In the late 90s and early 2000s, the state of Connecticut switched to a deregulated system of providing electricity to the state's growing population. Their thought here is  that by giving the taxpayers the power of choice of where they want to get their electricity from but still having the same company deliver the power, the competition would drive down costs and make CT a more attractive place for businesses and stimulate the economy. The deregulated system works like this: consumers choose what company produces their electricity; the providers of that consumer's particular area will transfer the electricity from the producer, and then deliver the power to the consumer at a lower rate.

The state of Connecticut has four major service areas with a fifth area that gets its power from sources from a neighboring state. The four divisions are Southern, Western, Central, and Eastern. Each power provider in the state falls into one of those categories for getting power to a consumer's home or business. However, within each of these divisions, there are a number of power producers that residents in any of the four sections are able to choose from. This is the bright side to the deregulated system from the consumer's point of view. While one home may be located in the Southern division, the owner could choose a power producer located in the Western division, if they have a better rate than one in their own area, without having to worry about their provider not being able to deliver it to them.

The choice of where electricity is produced is has nothing to do with the quality of the power pumping through the power lines. It is simply a means of allowing the customer to choose what they want to pay for electricity. Geographically speaking, choosing a provider out of a specific distribution area has no affect on the ability for the provider to transfer the power from the producer to the consumer.