California Energy Is Plentiful; So Is Fallout From Enron

Sacramento Bee ^ | 05/13/2002 | MARK SHERMAN ; AP Writer

[Amerigomag]

Affordable power is plentiful in California today, and so is the fallout from newly released Enron Corp. documents that detail the company's role in the state's energy crisis.......

Federal regulators, accused of being slow to respond to price and supply problems in the West, have been acting with unusual speed since the 17-month-old documents were released last week. They are trying to determine if other sellers of power tried to manipulate prices through strategies similar to those described by Enron lawyers.......

[Amerigomag]

Bad news and good news.

Bad news is that the California taxpayers are paying 3 times more for power than the area average

Good news is that this Davis rip off is being shared by all the taxpayers in California. Why not? They elected him!

[evolved_rage]

Just another welfare state ripoff. The taxpayers subsidize those who don't pay taxes.

[Fish out of Water]

*Index Bump and fyi

[Vigilanteman]

Two things clear about the energy crisis:

1. Enron was a bunch of scumbags preying on suppliers, customers and enablers.

2. Enablers like Gray Davis played the key role in encouraging the scumbags to operate.

   Some of us were merely trusting suppliers who got screwed by both of the above types. Enron belongs in jail; Gray Davis in the unemployment line.

[Vladiator]

The commission, after months of pressure from California and its neighbors, imposed price caps in June. Power prices fell dramatically, although some analysts say conservation measures, more hydropower and new power plants better explain the drop.

Hmmm, what a surprise. Bush's FERC is controlled by Enron-friendlies? Who'd have thunk it.

Spencer Abraham is a energy-company flunkie? No! Say it ain't so!

This whole thing stinks to high heaven. And the fact that the energy companies lied about what they were doing is a slap in the face to the free market system that made them money.

[heleny]

Enron was a bunch of scumbags preying on suppliers, customers and enablers.

Enron and other power companies may have preyed on everyone else who was buying energy on short notice. Long-term contracts with Enron weren't all bad: for example, the University of California system had long term contracts with Enron and had low power rates without blackouts. The power rates were lower than those before "deregulation."

[Amerigomag]

Hmmm, what a surprise. Bush's FERC is controlled by Enron-friendlies? Who'd have thunk it.That may be the case but it is not the cause of the CalPowerCrisis.

Ther are several remedies to the problem that were apparent before the crisis and did not need the experience of the past 18 months to implement.:

1) Modify the obviously flawed state regulations to reflect a true free market arrangement or reimpose a state regulated monopoly. Either is better than the existing arrangement.

2) Live within your means. When power is short learn to live without it until you can improve the supply. This involves blackouts, financial incentives to conserve and other forms of forced conservation.

3) Above all else don't submit to blackmail. Don't pay outlandish prices for the last 2% to 3% of your needs.

4) Establish a system that is stable and encourages investment which return predictable profits.

5) Last but not least get your growth under control. Regulate your new energy requests. Evaluate new service requests in light of your supplies. California has a mighty economic engine but more prudent expansion is obvious.