I thought it was odd when FERC took no action at all but put yourself in their shoes: One state (California) is run by a left of center government for decades and is heavily influenced by environmentalists who fervently oppose energy production of any kind. The other states produce enough for their own needs and sometimes enough for export and sometimes not. Are you supposed to penalize the other states by regulating the cost of energy? Why should Californa's problems spill over to the other states? I have no idea about the workings of the PUC but they were, obviously, of no help. California got a more fiscally conservative governor as a result but overall, they won't learn IMHO. Max
Do you even live in California? Do you have any idea what really happened here, and happened to a state that is the 5th largest country in the World? I'm always amazed at how people who don't even live in this State have such absurd notions about what actually happened during the manipulation of California's power grid, or who it was that failed to act. Can you say FERC? Can you say George Dubya Bush? Yeah, let's just turn and look the other way while the Nation's largest economy simply "twists" in the wind during one of the biggest recesssions in quite some time. All because our Enron buddies are some of our biggest financial backers. All because we helped the Bush Administration develop energy policy with 17 provisions to the policy. Naw, that isn't it. Let's just blame it on the liberals in Sacramento!
Maybe an unbiased view is better? .......California's deregulation process abandoned long-term planning: Efficiency programs were slashed by 56 percent. After l994, utilities, with the approval of state regulators, abandoned investments in efficiency programs. A predictable consequence of these changes was that California's power demand began to grow. From l990 to l995, demand rose at one-quarter of one percent. From l995 to 2000, demand grew 2.5 percent per year - ten times faster...... http://www.ef.org/california/ Can you say Gray Davis and Bill Clinton?
Are you trying to say that FERC did not block attempts by the California Independent System Operator to control prices and to take actions that would have helped? You've got to be kidding! Let's face it, the article that I posted hit the nail right on the head when it stated that FERC dropped the ball on the wholesale market, and the California Public Utilities Commission dropped the ball on the retail market. FERC has a history of being legal-oriented, where the legal process mattered much more than good policy-making. The commissioners that run FERC have very little real world experience with the energy business or in economics, let alone understanding how markets actually work. The guy that Bush put in charge of FERC was a "yes" man, plain and simple.
Waggie, I'm trying to point out that the reality is that it was the State of California that created it's own problems. That is obvious if you look at the facts. Their Governor and state regulators failed the people with ill conceived planning and lack of continued analysis of what was happening.
Gee, the State didn't have too much of a problem supplying electricity to its residents for all the years up until the Enron's and Dynegy's of the world started "manipulating" its power grid, now did it?
On what criteria is California the 5th largest country in the world? As for the energy problem, I agree the Federal regulators were incompetent, but let's not ignore the fact that the initial crisis was almost entirely self-inflicted by California's economically illiterate energy policies, specifically their price caps for retail electricity and their heavy restrictions on building in-state capacity, despite large population growth and a huge energy-intensive economic boom in the state during the 90s. California dug its own grave - Enron and co simply danced upon it.