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To: Ilaine who wrote (105446)	5/29/2001 10:46:37 PM
From: benwood	Respond to of 436258

I think one of the great ironies of too little supply is that if there is a threat of a rolling blackout, I'd wager that many people would actually increase their consumption -- get it while the gettin's good. Turn down the A/C, run the dishwasher, whatever. No medals for letting the other guy get the juice. People do seem to notice when it hits their pocketbooks though, surprise surprise!

To: Ilaine who wrote (105446)	5/29/2001 11:41:18 PM
From: Don Lloyd	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 436258

CB - It's moronic to argue that capping the price of wholesale electricity prices would ease supply. I read somewhere that gal was smart, but either she's stupid or she thinks everyone else is. Maybe both. I know a cap that would actually ease supply in California - a cap on consumption. The social planners can have a ball deciding how much everyone gets, and then if you exceed your ration - well, I guess they can't shut you off, but how about make you pay $10kWh for everything over your ration? $20kWh? $200kWh? Doesn't matter, let them figure it out. Set it high enough and it would work. People all over California would actually start conserving electricity. What a concept! Any economist who either claims that legal minimum wages do not cause unemployment or that price controls do not cause shortages is not a real economist, but rather a political economic junk scientist who sells his professional opinion for money and/or status. There is no energy crisis, period. The only crisis is that certain politicians fear that a market-clearing price for electricity might prove to be incompatible with their re-election. Even this crisis wouldn't be real if the politicians hadn't previously bought votes by promising to cap prices at below potential market rates and if the politicians had even the slightest clue as to how little actual increase in average retail prices would be required to bring short term supply and demand back into balance. Any number of combinations of base line pricing, peak pricing, and credits and vouchers would be adequate to reduce demand enough to allow time to bring on new supply, without necessarily impacting those with a limited ability to pay. Any kind of program to free the retail price to rise should be able to get all of the potential benefits of voluntary conservation as well. In addition, this allows the generators to charge any price they want for the electricity that they won't be able to sell because it won't be needed. Regards, Don