Utilities

There are 3,200 utilities that make up the U.S. electrical grid, the largest machine in the world.

These power companies sell $400 billion worth of electricity a year, mostly derived from burning fossil fuels in centralized stations and distributed over 2.7 million miles of power lines.

Regulators set rates; utilities get guaranteed returns; investors get sure-thing dividends.

It’s a model that hasn’t changed much since Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.

(Business Week, 8/2/2013)