Viewers of television news could be forgiven for thinking that regulations are free. Network reporters rarely tell them of the costs they, as consumers, incur when the government places mandates on businesses.

An exception was the reporting late last month on increased gasoline prices. Two reporters, ABC’s Lisa Stark and NBC’s David Gregory, used their stories to inform viewers that state mandates were exaggerating the price hikes. Stark, on the August 29 World News Tonight, reported that "the different prices [in the different states] are a result of different state taxes and the expensive anti-pollution additives required in some states."

Gregory, on the same evening’s Nightly News, said, "Such high demand creates even greater sticker shock in California, where it’s more difficult for oil companies to keep up the supply of reformulated, clean-burning gasoline mandated by the state."

Another exception was a recent CNN series on the many efforts across the country to deregulate electricity services. Correspondent Natalie Pawelski, on the September 1 World Today, said, "The theory is basic free enterprise. Competition should bring lower bills, better service, and innovation." She reported that "Congress is considering electricity deregulation and almost every state is making plans as well. If small pilot projects in New Hampshire and Massachusetts hold true on a larger scale, deregulation will mean lower electric bills."

According to Pawelski, the "biggest boulders in the road to deregulation are white-elephant nuclear plants and other big-ticket items that were approved by regulators, but won’t make economic sense in a competitive market."

She ran a soundbite from two sources who argued that taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for these "stranded costs." Adam Thierer of the Heritage Foundation, said, "A stranded-cost bailout would represent potentially the most egregious example of corporate welfare in American history." And Anna Aurillo of U.S. PIRG argued that "it is an outrageous insurance for their gambles that did not pay off."

Three days later Pawelski profiled Bristol, Virginia, which recently broke its ties to the Tennessee Valley Authority. "Bristol, Virginia is going through a divorce of sorts," she said. "It’s breaking away from the mighty Tennessee Valley Authority, the giant federal agency that’s powered this town, and dozens of others, for more than half a century."

She called the TVA "a monopoly that doesn’t like the idea of Bristol’s turning to Cinergy," an Ohio company that Bristol figures "will save the town at least $70 million over the next ten years. That’s about $3,800 per resident."

Kudos to ABC’s Lisa Stark, NBC’s David Gregory, and CNN’s Natalie Pawelski for pointing out that regulations aren’t cheap, and deregulation can mean a windfall for consumers.

— Rich Noyes