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Pastimes : The California Energy Crisis - Information & Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gamesmistress who wrote (451)	6/12/2001 12:28:27 AM
From: Father Terrence	Respond to of 1715

Gina - California Isn't Alone... Another example of massive poor planning: Brazilians Prepare For Tightest Electricity Rationing In Their History 6-4-1 RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Squeezed by the biggest electricity supply crisis in their history, Brazilians are preparing Sunday to submit to a draconian rationing program in the hope of avoiding widespread blackouts. At the stroke of midnight (0300 GMT Monday), millions of residents of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, and scores of smaller cities across the nation, will have to dim their lights and flip the off switch on such 'luxury' items as air conditioners. The government has mandated households to cut energy consumption by 20 percent. The industrial and commercial sectors were ordered Friday to reduce enegy consumption from between 15 and 20 percent -- depending on their activity. Brazil already decreed a reduction by 35 percent in public sector power usage, including cuts in street lighting and a blackout of neon signs, which came into effect in May. The government has already banned all sports and cultural activities after 6:00 pm, except for organizations that are capable of generating their own power. If the quota system -- scheduled to last until December 1 -- fails, the government says it is prepared to use regular power blackouts. Government officials blame the crisis on an extended drought that has affected hydroelectric generation, which provides 90 percent of Brazil's power. Utilities will slap hefty fees on households that overuse electricity: anyone using more than 500 kilowatts per month could be hit with fees up to 200 percent of their regular bill -- and if their behavior contiues, they face a total power cutoff. Facing such drastic measures, Brazilians are rushing to swap their power-hungry lamps for energy efficient fluorescent tubes, fix or get rid of refrigerators, and throw out a collection of electrical household items -- electric coffee machines, blow driers and even washing machines are getting the boot. Utility companies have already sent millions of letters to customers explaining each 'consumption goal' -- a euphemism for the maximum amount of energy they are allowed to use. Automatic teller machines will not work at night, underground trains will operate shorter schedules, and mobile phone companies said they cannot guarantee that their phones would work. Only police stations, prisons and hospitals will be exempt from the severe rationing. In South America's biggest metropolis, Sao Paulo, extra "blackout" police have been drafted in for duty from 6:00 pm to 2:00 am to ensure compliance with the measures. Firefighters are already stepping up drills on rescuing people trapped in elevators. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso issued a decree suspending Brazil's consumer protection code in an effort to head off legal challenges to his rationing plan and its fallout -- but the Association of Brazilians Lawyers said the plan was unconstitutional. Sao Paulo mayor Marta Suplicy said a potential increase in violence associated with the predicted power cuts was "of great concern."

To: gamesmistress who wrote (451)	6/12/2001 1:10:28 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1715

Hi Gina, Thanks for the very thoughtful reply to my post. Re: Another feature of A. B. 1890 was payment to the utilities for all the money they had sunk in projects like abandoned nuclear plants. The government gave away $28 Billion to the bozoes in the utilities who created monstrously inappropriate "investments" and had the chutzpah to suggest that the consumer had to pay for lousy executive decisions. This same crowd, in their infinite arrogance is now asking for outrageous bonuses to be paid to these executives through the bankruptcy court. I've read that they are demanding up to $7.5 Million for an executive. This is outrageous. These guys ran PG&E into the dirt and now they want a bonus? A-mazing. The bankruptcy judge should just laugh them out of the courthouse. These executives have learned one lesson. Ask for outrageous amounts of money, for whatever inappropriate reason and often enough, the other side of the negotiation will cave in. It truly is a culture of arrogance and indifference to ethics in the executive suites of the utility/IPP/power marketer companies. Re: Also, I never understood why PG&E and SocCalEd would agree to those Spot market and Day-Ahead market prices which you accurately characterize as being the height of folly. It was part of a quid pro quo arrangement. The IPPs paid well over market value for the plants acquired after A.B. 1890 took effect. The utes got oodles of cash, which they promptly invested overseas, out of the region and provided an extraordinary dividend for the shareholders. In the meantime, the IPPs and power marketers rigged to prices so that the transmission and distribution arms of PG&E and International Edison went belly up. This was part of the plan to eliminate this low growth, unionized and regulated business from the utilities roster of businesses. So, it was a three-fer for the holding companies, which are in no danger of bankruptcy, are investing in non-union projects worldwide and who have quite elegantly solved a big problem they faced in their transition for regulated utility to rapacious uncontrolled market gamers and scamsters. Re: But IMO stability is best attained not by the government dictating "a fair profit" but leveling the playing field for competition and ensuring that consumers can get the information they need to make rational decisions. Gina, I'm more of an expert in telecom than in power, but I'll assure you that government failed miserably in its attempt with the 1996 Telecommunications Act to help to foster competition. Today, all the competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) are in desperate shape. Most will go bankrupt, others bought out and only a mere handful may survive. The lesson here is that the government cannot help to create competition successfully. Government is a coercive force and not a nurturing force, generally, and so the best that I can see come of the California energy fiasco is that we will sensibly return to regulation and to telling utility companies when to get off.... their profiteering and swindling schemes. And to get on with providing adequate power at a fair price. Let me reiterate: So let me flip the question to you. If the absence of a "cost-plus" price for electricity means that the California economy is sent into recession and thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of households go BK, have we achieved a good result? Gina, you have a politicians knack for not answering the question. Let's try again. Is it a good thing that the Texas cabal sends thousands of otherwise viable businesses and households into bankruptcy for the sake of outsized profits? The answer is Yes or No.....Choose One. <smile> Best, Ray