Schwarzenegger's Energy market strategy outlined

SACBEE ^ | 10/14/03 | Dale Kasler

[Pikamax]

Energy market strategy outlined Some say the new governor will wait to tackle power issues. By Dale Kasler -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Tuesday, October 14, 2003 Two years after energy deregulation left Californians with soaring electricity prices, rolling blackouts and a bankrupt utility, Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to give free markets another try. Some consumer advocates and Democratic lawmakers say the former actor's plan could mean a remake of the energy crisis. But Schwarzenegger says the best way to ensure low prices and encourage new power-plant construction is to "make markets work," according to his energy policy statement.

[secretagent]

What deregulation? I thought that the old CA government negotiated a price ceiling for the end consumer.

No free market in that.

[Hostage]

Some believe the shock of real deregulation would harm the "customer base".

I asked sarcastically who's customer base? Obviously the Californian goevernment believes its people are its "customer base" and therein lies the problem. California will not get their act straight until they are shaken out of their Utopian stupor. Maybe the Recall helped them wake up.

Carrie, note the mention of longterm contract that commercial companies in California have with independent power producers. I recall you said no such contracts were permitted unless they were negotitated by some hand-picked fellow? Are you serious? That's a complete falsehood in many many cases. You got a chip on your shoulder.

Also why not offer low income folks direct subsidies rather than cap pricing which has stunted California's energy progress?

Some think that simply streamlining the permit process will solve problems. It is always the financial estimation of ROI and the plan to achieve it that drives the decision making. Permiting improvements help but flexibility with power pricing is essential.

[Hostage]

Some believe the shock of real deregulation would harm the "customer base".

I asked sarcastically who's customer base? Obviously the Californian goevernment believes its people are its "customer base" and therein lies the problem. California will not get their act straight until they are shaken out of their Utopian stupor. Maybe the Recall helped them wake up.

Carrie, note the mention of longterm contract that commercial companies in California have with independent power producers. I recall you said no such contracts were permitted unless they were negotitated by some hand-picked fellow? Are you serious? That's a complete falsehood in many many cases. You got a chip on your shoulder.

Also why not offer low income folks direct subsidies rather than cap pricing which has stunted California's energy progress?

Some think that simply streamlining the permit process will solve problems. It is always the financial estimation of ROI and the plan to achieve it that drives the decision making. Permiting improvements help but flexibility with power pricing is essential.

[Paul L. Hepperla]

It's an absolute mistake to deregulate the Residential sector. The systems are simply not prepared for it. In CA, they should deregulate C&I first, small business second...and call it a day. Leave residential deregulation for another day.

[Willie Green]

"This is a very progressive vision of how to implement market incentives in a way that could benefit customers,"

"Progressive"???

Hmmmmm.... looks like RINO Arnie is attempting a Klintonian "Third Way" approach to "deregulation".
Still it's a farcical misuse of the term "deregulation" since he still intends to impose a regulatory mandate for utilities to meet "minimum reserve requirements".

Gotta give him some credit for trying to reduce California's dependence on Natural Gas. We're experiencing supply shortages on that fuel as well, and it's best allocated to it's historicly decentralized applications: home, commercial and industrial use. NOT centralized generation of electricity.

But emphasis on renewable "alternative" energy resources???

Sheeeesh. No help for California here.

The state would be a helluva lot better off scrapping debate about "deregulation". The regulated public utility model served our entire nation very well for many, many decades. Then build some safe, modern and efficient NUKES so California will have all the affordable and reliable power that it needs.

[Willie Green]

It's an absolute mistake to deregulate the Residential sector.

I'm not convinced that deregulation is a viable solution anyway.
Market theory dictates that utilities become more efficient by SHEDDING excess generating capacity and increasing utilization. NOT by building new capacity. New capacity would only be built in response to conditions of power shortages and higher prices. And given California's hostile environmental attitude toward ANY type of electrical generation, generating capacity will continue to migrate out of state and experience transmission losses in the actual supply lines.

[Paul L. Hepperla]

I think DeReg is a very viable solution. The model in the UK has worked quite well. With dereg, generation assets and transmission assets are separately owned.

But, I also understand DeReg is only part of an overall energy strategy that must meet the demand, now and future, of CA.

[Willie Green]

The model in the UK has worked quite well. With dereg, generation assets and transmission assets are separately owned.

Unlike the United States, the UK (with its North Sea oil reserves) is largely energy independent. Furthermore, as a tiny island barely the size of Oregon, it never really developed the bewilderingly complex generation and distribution grid that we have. Their system is much simpler and uniform, unhampered by long transmission distances or Stete regulatory bureaucracies.

The UK is not a valid model for comparison or emulation anymore than is Iceland. It's apples to bananas.

[Willie Green]

One more thought: If you REALLY want to model California after the UK model, you're gonna have to physically separate them from the rest of the continent and float them offshore somewhere out in the Pacific where they can't get their electricity from somewhere else. That's the ONLY way that you'll ever get those NIMBYs to understand that they have to build some kind of new power plants. And YES, the money for those plants will have to come out of their own pockets.