On January 1, 1998, California becomes the first state to deregulate electricity. Nearly 200 companies have already registered to compete for customers in that state's vast market -- where power rates have been among the nation's highest.

• Analysts say that consumers' electricity bills will not drop by much in the beginning because utilities there have been given a chance to pay off billions of dollars in old debt before price competition takes hold.

• The savings will probably be greater to consumers in other states as deregulation sweeps the country, with the U.S. Department of Energy forecasting that electricity rates nationwide will eventually drop about 20 percent -- or $14 a month -- by 2020 as a result of deregulation.

• Fifteen states have already approve electricity deregulation and many others are studying the prospect or launching pilot programs.

• Next year, Congress may consider whether the federal government ought to set a deadline for all states to open their electricity markets.

States with the costliest electricity are the most eager to invite competition. Rates in California and the Northeast are as much as 50 percent higher than in other areas of the nation. Kilowatt-hour rates in Idaho, for example, are 3 cents -- compared to 9 cents in New York.

The debate in each state will be over how much help utilities will get to pay off their debt before competition begins. That decision will determine how fast and by how much rates will fall. Observers report that the trend so far is to devise formulas to pay off debt quickly by spreading it among all electric users.