Electric bill rebates may get new life

The Sacramento Bee ^ | May 24, 2002 | Carrie Peyton Dahlberg

[farmfriend]

Gov. Gray Davis on Thursday ordered another summer's worth of electric bill rebates for power-thrifty consumers, despite warnings by some that the program may end up costing consumers more than it's worth.

Using his powers under a state of emergency that he declared 16 months ago, Davis issued an executive order that would again set up "20/20" rebates on power bills, if the state Public Utilities Commission agrees.

[farmfriend]

ping

[jocko12]

IF GOV. DOOFUS HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS-THE RATE PAYERS WILL LOSE MONEY!!!!

[NormsRevenge]

We're headed for the 80s out here today. Keep Talkin', Guv...
DUMP DAVI$



GO SIMON

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the ping.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Calpowercrisis:

To find all articles tagged or indexed using Calpowercrisis, click below:
	click here >>>	Calpowercrisis	<<< click here
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This article together with the article Robert357 posted regarding (Cal)Border energy projects take political heat seems to imply that the West Coast Democratic plan is to shutdown any power plant construction and use conservation (curtailment) to manage the Energy requirements.

Then they can play their political games !

Got a cartoon for that:

[Dog Gone]

Those millions are expected to be added to the costs of the power bonds that will be sold by the state and paid off by consumers over about a decade.

Oh, those power bonds the state has been unable to sell for well over a year now?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What is the Register doing?
Can't get the cartoons to come up!

Cartoon here:Davis and the Rolling blackouts

[daviddennis]

What's the status of that, anyway? Did they ever manage to issue them?

And is the California budget still depending on their issurance? I would assume the answer is yes, which means that if they're not sold the budget deficit goes up by another 12-odd billion. (That being the last figure I've heard).

I wouldn't want to rely on California's credit for much of anything right now. Might even be tempting to sell it short, if that can be done.

D

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Robert357 had a comment on another thread that there was something in R&T from LATimes from Angelides (State Finance Guy ) on that. From Bloomberg! Guess I'll go look for it!

[Dog Gone]

What's the status of that, anyway? Did they ever manage to issue them?

Last I had heard, no. Maybe Ernest will find an update, but until there is some guarantee that the bonds will be repaid, nobody is interested in issuing them.

I can't imagine why...isn't it common to get a $12 billion dollar loan with no collateral?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I have not found it on Bloomberg and the LA Times now requires you to be registered like Yahoo so they can Spam you!

This is from R&T:

Energy bonds -- California's long-delayed plan to sell bonds to cover electric power costs is getting closer to reality, but Treasurer Phil Angelides on Thursday still couldn't say exactly when the securities may be sold. The Bloomberg report is in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/24/02

[Dog Gone]

Thanks for looking. The bonds still aren't a reality because they're unrealistic. A dedicated portion of a consumer's electric bill HAS to be set aside to repay these bonds, or else nobody with half a brain will buy them.

California politicians like to make things far more complicated than they have to be.

[Robert357]

I think we are talking billions not millions.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

Try doing something about the phone bill and you can start with the Gore tax.

[heleny]

Using his powers under a state of emergency that he declared 16 months ago, Davis issued an executive order that would again set up "20/20" rebates on power bills, if the state Public Utilities Commission agrees.

Davis claims the budget deficit is too big to solve without new taxes and extensive new debt, yet he can still roll out spending programs like this 20/20 plan without legislative branch oversight. If he really solved this energy crisis, we wouldn't be in this "state of emergency" that gives him so much authority.

Can states of emergency expire, or will we be in an emergency forever?

... it's just putting money in people's left pocket and turning around and taking it from the right pocket."
At least one preliminary estimate circulating in the Capitol had predicted that $300 of rebates will be paid out for every megawatt-hour saved by this year's program -- roughly 10 times higher than current wholesale prices.

.... the PUC estimates that last year's program ... cost [up to] twice as much as the benefits it delivered.

translation: Davis is engineering an even larger deficit, since the state and the overall population derives no benefit by reducing energy usage when prices are low and no blackouts are forecast.

Davis is also trying to generate positive bona fide news about himself. The media will run to him but ignore Simon.

[heleny]

LA Times now requires you to be registered ... so they can Spam you!

Try "dumpdavis2" for both username and password. It expires in one week. I forgot my old usernames, if any even work, but I am concerned that they can count each individual registry as a new customer, and then use the inflated number of phantom customers to get more ad revenue.

---

Here is the article you mentioned:

State to Reveal Schedule in June for Bond Sale
....
although other state officials have said the sale may begin in September, "I don't want to speculate" on a date, [CA Treasurer Phillip] Angelides said. The state plans to release a "definitive" schedule next month, he added. The $11.1-billion offering, which would be the largest municipal debt sale in U.S. history, will let the California Department of Water Resources repay the state's general fund for a $6.56-billion loan for last year's energy costs, pay off an interim $4.3-billion borrowing from banks and cover other power-related expenses.
....

The state already plans to sell a record $7.5 billion in short-term notes by mid-year to shore up cash reserves. .... about nine-tenths of the debt will be sold as tax-exempt securities. The rest will be sold as taxable bonds.
About $4 billion of the bonds are expected to be sold on a variable-rate basis, with yields reset periodically....

So, we are issuing bonds to pay for energy costs borrowing money to repay debt incurred last year.
Eventually we'll just issue bonds to pay interest on all the debts Davis has racked up for us.

Vote Greg Conlon for state Treasurer.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Hey, thanks!

I got hacked off when I saw they were copying what Yahoo had done!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Heleny was kind enough to get you an answer in more detail!