To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (122082 ) 1/15/2001 10:56:33 AM From: H-Man Respond to You post that there was a scheme by the utility companies, in selling the generating plants. What you fail to mention is that the sell off of power generating was mandated by the so called 'de-regulation', Which was nothing of the sort, btw. Furthermore, it is not the power generated from these plants that are costing so much. It is that which must be imported that has high cost. True, some plants have been stalled by environmentalists Energy experts are quick to point out the underlying factors that created the unstable electricity market, mainly a scarcity of power in California, which has strict environmental rules that have kept ANY plants from being built in a decade. they could laugh all the way to the bank .Simply put, supply has not matched demand. For the past three years, with the current backlog in generating plant construction, utilities have felt the power crunch in the summer months in California and lost tens of millions of dollars in the volatile wholesale market. San Diego Gas & Electric, the first utility in the state to recover its stranded costs, has passed on the price crunch to its customers and the public outcry has been sharp. growing population caused the demand for electricity to increase at a time when California's ability to generate it REMAINED STATIC . In addition, the California Public Utilities Commission prevented investor-owned utilities such as Southern California Edison from entering into long-term contracts to buy electricity when the sale price of that electricity was still fixed by regulation.
