Expenses incurred in the process of adapting to deregulation of the energy marketplace. Whenever a utility is faced with deregulation of its market by state or local legislators, it is likely to incur unexpected costs while adapting to the changeover, and these are referred to as implementation costs. These costs include, but are not limited to, outsourcing of any services that the utility may no longer be permitted to provide, setup of power pools or independent system operators, and public relations expenses related to educating its customer base about deregulation and what it means to consumers. Any or all of these expenses may be unavoidable depending on the regulatory environment that accompanies deregulation.

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