Posted on 06/11/2002 2:38:46 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
SACRAMENTO -- The state Senate opened another front in California's war on electricity price gouging Monday, passing a bill that would crack down on energy producers that fail to build power plants as promised.
As the state continues to demand a multibillion refund order from federal regulators and as a special Senate committee probes alleged market manipulation, the Senate split along party lines Monday over a bill that supporters say will prevent the potential for California to get ripped off by power companies.
Sen. Steve Peace, D-Chula Vista, said his Senate Bill 1269 would keep power companies from "playing chicken" with the state by holding their plant siting permits until supplies are tight and prices again on the rise.
Opponents -- power companies and some Republican lawmakers -- say it's bad policy that will scare investors out of California.
Among other things, the bill would allow the state's recently created Power Authority to confiscate permits and build publicly owned power plants in place of long-delayed private plants.
Majority Democrats ignored warnings from Republicans that the measure, if it were to become law, would chase power companies out of the state and leave California with a growing imbalance of supply and demand.
Calling the plan "seizure of private property without due process," Sen. Ray Haynes, R-Riverside, said: "All this bill will do is guarantee that nobody applies for a permit.
"They do these kinds of things in Third World countries."
Peace noted that the only seizure would be of a permit, the cost of which is largely borne by electricity ratepayers, and the fraction invested by a power company would be reimbursed.
Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, argued that the bill's effect would be the opposite of what Peace is seeking. Rather than spur power-plant construction, "it would be just one more reason they shouldn't be built."
But Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, whose tenacious detective work has uncovered damning details of price-manipulation strategies, said power companies are canceling or postponing plans to build plants in California because they have "lost the trust" of Wall Street because of their "behavior" in this state.
"If they can not regain that trust," he said, "it's time to move those permits elsewhere."
The floor debate Monday in the Capitol took place as the state remains billions of dollars in debt for power purchases it made last spring and summer, when California's utility giants were pushed to the brink of ruin by runaway prices made possible by the Legislature's deeply flawed deregulation plan. The state also is saddled with high-priced long-term energy contracts, which were negotiated at the height of the crisis, and which many believed helped bring prices down to earth.
With that as a backdrop, Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, said those companies holding plant permits "can use (them) to stick up the state. They can use it to hold us up for ransom and to play games."
But Joe Ronan, a senior vice president at Calpine Corp., which has brought five new plants on line over the past two years and has plans to build a small plant near Tracy, dismissed the notion.
"The only gaming I've seen in the news has been in trading," he said, speaking on behalf of the trade group Independent Energy Producers. "I don't think power-plant licensing and construction can be subject to, quote, gaming because of the immense amount of money and time involved in bringing a plant on line, ... generally about four years."
Ronan also said the bill could create an advantage for power companies that already have permits, which would not be affected by the new rule. Existing permits don't expire for several years, but under Peace's bill, companies could be subject to losing their construction rights after only 12 months.
"California," he said, "is getting to be a more difficult place to do business."
* To reach Capitol Bureau Chief Will Shuck, phone (916) 441-4078 or e-mail sacto@recordnet.com
Start with Davis!!
Go Simon!
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) | ||||
calgov2002:
 calgov2002: for old calgov2002 articles. calgov2002: for new calgov2002 articles. Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register |
Now they want to punish them for not wanting to do business with a bunch of criminal Thugs from Davis to the lowest ranking Rat poli at Sacramento.
With this bunch of fascist/socialists, you could spend billions to build a power plant and find yourself in jail if you dared to make a profit to repay your billion costs.
I think that whenever these rats come up with any bill like this, they have to submit to a Urine test to determine what drugs are they being controlled by.
I think he argued that de-regulation would lower the price too.
Kalifornia is hopeless -- a lost cause.
They should be building nuclear power plants, electricly powered mass transportation systems and desalination plants.
Instead, I bet they fritter their money away on a bunch of oversized windmills, and the lights will still grow dim.
Must have been before my time of arrival here!
Whatever the policy was that forced utilities to buy high and sell low, it can hardly be called "de-regulation". As soon as rate increases began to be felt, the amount of power consumed started dropping. As I recall, the imbalance between demand and supply was never in excess of five percent. This stuff is not rocket science.
I haven't trusted the Irvine Company ever since they started doing deals with Babbit in Ventura County. Their dealings with homeowners in Orange County give one pause as well, selling houses sitting on land with 99-year leases.
That just about sums it up.
Are they going to put troopers at the border to prevent various businesses from leaving this socialist state next?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.