1) CA also had one of the biggest economic booms in recent history; business grew like crazy, and unemployement is at astonishing low levels. This more than cancels out the weather factor. Come to CA and see signs of the conservation; stores turning out a hefty portions of their lights, voluntary closing of non-essential facilities when the we reach a stage 3 alert, etc. The fact that our total power usage dropped from 31,000 mw last March to 29,000 mw in the high growth business climate is PROOF that CA is conserving.
2) See above - power usage has DROPPED. Sorry, it is you who are wrong on this point.
3)My point was that Gov Wilson started the mess, and all politicians helped make it worse.
4) Separate the utilities from the power wholesalers. PG&E is guilty of a lot of things; stupidity, short sightedness, lethargy, but at least not price gouging and manipulation. Duke, Calpine, and the rest can take that credit. Another point: PG&E generated a much higher percentage of the power they used before the deregulation; through their own confused interpretation of the situation, they believed that selling some of their power plants was the right move. They were astonished when co. like Duke bought them for such 'high prices'. Little did they know of the plans that Duke et al had for the 'screwing of California'.
Like I said, your misconceptions of the situation are typical for people outside of CA. I hope I've helped clarify at least some of the facts. |
