[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Shortage = Demand > Supply

at some particular time and place

at some government-specified price

Under any given conditions the government could always produce either a shortage or a surplus of supply, by specifying a low or a high price.

A high price stinks.

But not like a blackout does . . .

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

"Under any given conditions the government could always produce either a shortage or a surplus of supply, by specifying a low or a high price."

Am I understanding you to say, "raise the price of electricity and the demand will go down"? Then will we have fixed-income old folks dying of heat strokes cause they can't afford their power bills... resulting in the cry for gov't subsidized power for seniors (like gov't paid drugs for seniors)... thus a need for more taxes to cover the cost of it?

I don't think the answer is to force less use of power, but instead to increase the power we generate.