 calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | reply to LegoPower77
Re: Another Day Another Ruse to RipOff Consumers Well, ftcr.org has some interesting facts, but it leaves out a key point: PG&E and SCE, as part of the dereg, had promised to cover the risk of unanticipated price spikes in the transitional market--then they totally failed to do so. Rather than enforce that promise (and probably toss them into a real bankruptcy, where they belonged, rather than the sham bankruptcy PG&E ended up in) Governor Gray Davis put the state on the line for billions of dollars in power costs.
With the state picking up the tab, PG&E and SCE avoided their contractual obligations and survived, still owned by the same holding companies.
Yes, the dereg plan had problems, but the real problem was the State of California government's failure to enforce the "worst case" provisions when the "worst case" arrived--instead deciding to bail out the state's electric utilities from their own mess.
(And yes, Gray Davis did name the father of California's electric deregulation, former state Senator Steve Peace, as his budget director. Gov. Davis was then surprised when his budget fell apart, too.)
Calvoiper
--
VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
