CA: Power market needs stability: Pull the plug on Prop. 80 (Deja P U all over again)

Mercury News ^ | 10/16/05 | Editorial

[NormsRevenge]

Proposition 80 calls itself the Repeal of Deregulation and Blackout Prevention Act. The title combines a false premise and a false promise.

Deregulation is already repealed, at least the wretchedly wrongheaded parts of it. And passing this proposition wouldn't improve the odds against blackouts. We recommend a ``no'' vote Nov. 8.

Sponsored by the Utility Reform Network, a consumer group, the initiative would return the state to a utility-dominant system of the past. Otherwise, it warns, unscrupulous energy barons will pillage California as they did during the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001.

But they can't. What was wrong during the crisis was the day-to-day purchase of power through a central exchange. Producers were able to withhold supplies to drive up prices; customers, including utilities such as Pacific Gas & Electric, were at their mercy.

Legislation eliminated the power exchange. Utilities now are generating electricity or purchasing it from independent producers through long-term contracts supervised by the California Public Utilities Commission.

The PUC also is well on the way to establishing adequate reserves. It is pushing renewable energy, pushing to diversify sources, and promoting conservation and efficiency to reduce demand. On those issues, Proposition 80 redundantly endorses the status quo.

The big market fix in Proposition 80 is a ban on the ability of any more customers to shop around, as some large customers can now, for electricity from some generator other than the utility.

[Utilizer]

I clicked on this thread because it sounded rather interesting. Then I noticed that this is from an editorial from the Mercury News. *rolls eyes* The SJMN is just about the most leftist, liberally-biased, La Raza -supporting rag ever to disgrace the bottom of a birdcage, and just by default I automatically take the opposite position on pretty much every opinion they scream about.

I stopped reading them back about '86 or so, and how they manage to survive with such a continually declining circulation combined with its total propagandizing for the Looney Left is beyond Me.

[Utilizer]

I clicked on this thread because it sounded rather interesting. Then I noticed that this is from an editorial from the Mercury News. *rolls eyes* The SJMN is just about the most leftist, liberally-biased, La Raza -supporting rag ever to disgrace the bottom of a birdcage, and just by default I automatically take the opposite position on pretty much every opinion they scream about.

I stopped reading them back about '86 or so, and how they manage to survive with such a continually declining circulation combined with its total propagandizing is beyond Me.

[buffyt]

I am curious. I own a home in Texas on the gulf coast, south of Houston, and thank you very much we had no damage from either of the two hurricanes...(everyone asks)
I pay about $500 a month for elec. bill in Lake Jackson Texas in the summer. The house is brick, 20 years old, just under 3K sq ft. No swimming pool, etc. Gas hot water, gas clothes dryer. Everything else is electric. I talked to a lady here in Southern Calif. who said her house is 3K sq ft and she had inground swimming pool and her elec. bill in the summer is less than $100 a month. Mine doesn't go that low in Texas in the winter when I am not using the AC. Are elec. rates that much lower in Calif. than in Texas where we produce so MUCH OF IT?

[buffyt]

I looked it up at....
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html
Table 5.6.A. Average Retail Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector, by State, June 2005 and 2004
(Cents per kilowatthour)

Per KW hour rates:
California 12.91
Texas 10.96

Looks like that lady was not quite honest. Rates are higher in Calif. than in Texas according to this site anyway.