 Unregulated monopolies such as Standard Oil that pulled vast profits quickly became the subjects of negative public opinion, the original source of regulation of monopolies.With rate-of-return regulation, consumers can rely on the government to ensure that they are paying fair prices for their electricity and other regulated services, and not feeding into a business of trusts and greed.The central problem with rate-of-return regulation, the reason most countries with economic regulation have switched to alternate methods of regulating such firms, is that rate-of-return regulation does not provide strong incentives for regulated firms to operate efficiently.