Posted on 06/16/2002 9:36:57 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:40:23 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Sacramento -- At the dawn of California's ill-fated experiment with electricity deregulation, a brilliant Bay Area electrical engineer working for Perot Systems warned energy officials and consumer groups that the state's new power market could be easily exploited.
As attention swirls in Sacramento about a possible appearance by former presidential candidate Ross Perot before a legislative panel, state Senate investigators looking into Perot Systems' role in the California energy crisis say they are eager to question Paul Gribik.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
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"Designed" by politicians and regulators to do what every market "designed" by politicians and regulators has done: fail.
"Even then, you could tell there were going to be problems," said Woychik. "And Paul was absolutely on our side. He wanted to make sure things got fixed."
Woychik is from TURN? IIRC, they are as responsible for the undercapacity in power generation in this State as anybody (with the notable exception of the NRDC). I know we've got whale sharks, and dog fish, is there such a thing as a pig shark?
The market isn't flawed, it's the phony Wilson/Brulte deregulation legislation that's flawed opening the door for the unethical low lifes in the energy business to rape the unsuspecting consumer.
Why not!!!
I guess you believe that a perfect market could have been devised,
that the designer's in California just screwed it up!
Hopefully they don't mean this engineer.
"Designed" by politicians and regulators to do what every market "designed" by politicians and regulators has done: fail. Exactly. This article, and apparently some of the politicians, would have us believe that Mr. Gribik was out selling some insider knowledge of computer technology or software that gave would-be cheaters a leg up. I don't read that at all. What I see is an economist or engineer watching lawyers at work, and spotting all the places where the lawyers -- who are always totally oblivious to the incentives for future behavior that their tidy little laws set up -- created systems that could be gamed. He then told other people how to game the laws. Hey, if it hadn't been him, it would have somebody else. Lawyers should never be allowed to design systems that involve the movement of money or other resources. Their training simply does not equip them for it. Everything they know is wrong, and this will always become apparent as soon as their system is turned on and begins to run. They will have left economic incentives all over the place that invite people, and even pay them, to do untoward things. And the lawyers will not have seen it coming; something about legal training blinds them to these effects. The lawyers should make a deal with the engineers. The engineers won't try cases, and the lawyers won't design systems. |
Show me where Steve Peace's name appears on the legislation.
The Legislature passed it unanimously.
Of course they did, it was everything the liberals wanted. A part of "the legislature" was the Republican controlled assembly. The bill was authored by and introduced by (then) Assembly Speaker Jim Brulte.
"Blame, hell," said Pete Wilson. "I take credit for having been the driving force to launch deregulation.">......
"I will not pretend to you that (the legislation) was a perfect, free-market mechanism. It wasn't. I knew that at the time. I signed it knowing that," said Wilson. "I thought whatever flaws would emerge ... they would be addressed by our successors."
What if we had never deregulated?
Youd still have a supply shortage and you wouldnt have a (retail) rate cap,(price controls) so prices would have skyrocketed, said Sen. Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, the author of the 1996 law.
Oh, horrors! They're making money again. Someone make them stop it!
#1. The power companies are being accused of working within the system the legislature designed.
#2. The are being accused of working within a badly designed system, without breaking any laws, and somehow managing to make money.
#3. There would have been no system to exploit were there not a shortage of generating capacity. There is no getting around this. Getting approval to build a generating station in California is nightmarishly difficult. Building a pipeline anywhere in the lower 48, likewise. The shortage of generating capacity is the result of bad policy, on the federal, state, and local levels. It is the result of ignorance of the most basic principles of economics on the part of California's citizens, who cannot bring themselves to believe that you need to build energy infrastructure if you want to have energy.
You want to encourage the construction of power plants. You want an oversupply, because you want your suppliers to compete with one another, and you want extra capacity to absorb temporary glitches in the system.
This is the fundamental flaw of democracy. If 51% of our fellows cannot figure out where electricity comes from, but insist on controlling the power industry, we all get to enjoy the blackouts together.
No system of "de-regulation with a price cap" could ever have worked. It was guaranteed to fail, and anyone with the slightest grasp of economics must have seen this.
But, again, it doesn't matter how perfect a system you design if you aren't going to build any power plants. Pass all the laws you want to, but at some point you have to go out and break ground and actually build something.
Our legislature is gonna get right on this basic flaw and pass a law to keep it from happening!
LOL!!
Right on. They're taking a hatchet to this Gribik guy for daring to voice publicly what any 13 year old with a basic understanding of supply and demand easily grasps. CA left the hen house door wide open--heck, they took the door totally off the hen house.
Don't forget the "FOXES WELCOME" sign.
Two very big points here. First, the board was disbanded partially on the basis of FERC instructions, if I remember correctly. Second, after Davis 'took over' nothing was fixed. The problem is being laid at Davis feet once again.
Earth to Gov. Davis, it is your fault, because you should have known, and you did nothing! Simons start point out to reports the question, when did you know, when should have you known, and why did you do nothing, so they can start acking these questions of Davis.
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