Policy makers everywhere have analyzed and tried to learn from the UK electricity restructuring, adopting some of the same market features but modifying others. Now the British government has embarked on a radical reform of their electricity industry, called the Programme to Reform the Electricity Trading Arrangements or "RETA." The changes to the electricity market are slated for September 2000. Some of the changes will bring the UK in line with what other countries have done, but other changes will be unique. Is the UK poised to leapfrog the rest of the world, adopting every market feature that has proved successful and modifying those that have not? Should the rest of the world be following the UK's lead on some of these changes? This paper argues that the answer is a decisive "no" to both questions. While proposed reforms to introduce demand-side bidding and encourage financial innovation make sense, the government's proposal to pay suppliers their bids rather than the market clearing price will not help achieve the stated goals of fostering competition and lowering prices.