Delivering the biggest, best-coordinated protest yet against deregulated wholesale electricity markets, a wide array of stakeholders asked federal regulators to investigate whether prices are truly "just and reasonable," as they are supposed to be. From Dow Jones:

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A coalition of some of the U.S.'s biggest industrial electricity consumers and public interest groups filed a petition with federal regulators Monday to expand their investigation of wholesale power markets.

The coalition, which included the American Chemistry Council, the Steel Manufacturers Association and the Consumer Federation of America, said regional transmission organizations were producing "unjust and unreasonable wholesale power prices." RTOs run centralized wholesale electric power markets in the mid- Atlantic states, the Midwest, New England, New York and California.

The groups said some large, integrated utilities operating within the RTOs were earning "supracompetitive returns that are not commensurate with returns on investments in other enterprises."

In the deregulated markets, the most costly power generated to satisfy electricity demand - often from an older natural gas-fired power plant - sets the price for all generation. As natural gas prices have risen sharply since 2003, electricity prices have followed, in many states hitting record levels, and low-cost coal and nuclear plants can sell their power at this price and earn large profits. Many of the plants were bought by independent subsidiaries at discounted values when the markets deregulated nearly a decade ago.

"Deregulation was supposed to have brought about vigorous competition in the wholesale market, resulting in better electric rates for customers," said Donna Harman, chief executive of the American Forest & Paper Association, one of the 41 signees. "Unfortunately, that has not happened," Harman said.