The unregulated company - known as Frontier Communications - competes like any other player for residential and business customers.

The company said the one-time bookkeeping charge, totaling $4.08 a share, was a result of changing its accounting standards to those used by unregulated companies.

The unregulated companies prefer plants that can be put up quickly, with less financial risk.

The high prices, she said, may lead consumers to buy cheaper policies from so-called non-admitted or unregulated companies or to go without it.

Mr. Draper now has a policy from an unregulated company.

It could also reflect purchases from the growing number of unregulated, off-shore companies.

Ameritech will take a $2.25 billion charge to change its accounting standards to those used by unregulated companies.

Dividing the company into regulated local phone companies and an unregulated company to do everything else is more like deregulation than the breakup of a monopoly.

Capable executives may move to unregulated or foreign companies.

Under deregulation, Con Ed was forced to sell most of its power plants to unregulated companies that could set prices based on market rates.