Powering a Generation of Change: Introduction

Documenting History in the Making

Powering a Generation of Change is a project to document the story of electrical power restructuring in North America as it unfolds over the coming years. The project is being conducted by the Division of Information Technology and Society at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. The project was established in 1997 with advice and funding from several large power companies in North America including:

US Generating
Hydro Québec
Ontario Hydro
Bonneville Power Administration
CMS Energy

New on Powering A Generation of Change:
Richard Hirsh's overview of Early Results.

Complete list of What's New on the Powering website.

Why Document Electricity Restructuring?

Electricity is the principal force that powers modern society. It lights buildings and streets, runs computers and telephones, drives trains and subways, and operates all variety of motors and machines. Yet most people, despite their great dependence on electrical power, hardly give it a thought. They flip a switch, turn a key, or pick up a phone and expect the power to be there without fail.

Stability in electrical power has traditionally depended on a system highly regulated by federal and state government. In recent years, however, many leaders in government and industry alike have pushed for deregulating the system to make it more responsive to changes in business and technology, and more open to the forces of free-market competition. Deregulation, it is said, has been successful in reducing costs and promoting innovation in airlines, natural gas, telecommunications and other industries, why not bring it to electric power?

Initial steps to deregulate electrical power are now being taken in the United States and Canada. No one yet knows how this will work out. Today the subject is being actively debated in board-rooms and state-houses across the North American Continent. What will it mean? How will it affect businesses and consumers? Should we move swiftly or slowly, or should we do this at all? These are just a few of the questions that citizens are now asking, as the issue moves into the arena of public debate.

Powering a Generation of Change is documenting these historic events. Our goal is to collect and present a variety of materials on the World Wide Web which will help us all better understand electric power restructuring. These materials are being added to the permanent research collection of the Smithsonian Institution.