&gt; Electric companies for decades have been rolling the cost of transmission into the variable rate portion of people&#x27;s bills.<p>Perhaps this is the problem, both at ownership and billing level. Why does the utility get to own the power lines instead of the citizens (via local governments and municipalities)? How do you know if utility&#x27;s claim of the cost of transmission is correct, when they still manage to pay out bonuses to themselves and produce dividends for shareholders? As a consumer you&#x27;re supposed to blindly trust their statements on costs.