Throughout the world, the deregulation of utilities like gas, railway, water and telephone is at the centre of many governments’ economic policy. The liberalisation process of electricity, however, is slower than anticipated. Both in Europe and North-America, for various reasons, a full-scale implementation of the liberalization of the market is being hindered. A lack of sufficient physical capacity to allow cross-border trade of electricity is only one of those reasons. In the long run, the prices of electricity can't be expected to go down. Or will they? A reflection based on the discussions at the World Forum on Energy Regulation, Rome, October 5-9, 2003.