Frontlines

Fortnightly Magazine - May 15 1996
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I don't know about you, but the Internet is driving me carzy. Every week I discover a half-dozen new home pages to add to my reading list. Some may view NetscapeÔ as an investment play. I see it as drama.

As a magazine editor (em someone who gets paid to follow the news (em I feel guilty if I don't click on every link and download every file. I call it the "obligation to surf." And the problem grows worse as more government agencies post their decisions online. My vote for worst offender goes to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). At the same time, however, the CPUC attracts a lot of attention with its online electric restructuring forum (http://www.cpuc.ca.gov). By providing "virtual direct access" to policymaking, it turns regulation into vaudeville.

Take my bookmarks, please.

Off the Roadmap

As the battle heats up over the fate of stranded costs, you can watch it play out, right on your computer screen. But first, take a moment to download a few documents from the CPUC's Internet home page:

s The CPUC's March 13 "Roadmap" order (Decision 96-03-02), which plots the timeline for electric restructuring

s PG&E's emergency motion for relief on stranded costs, accusing the competition of "sham" attempts to "launder" power and thus "bleed" investor-owned utilities (IOUs)

s The CPUC's surprising April 10 order (Decision 96-04-054) to convene a three-day collaboration to define a "competitive" transition charge" (CTC) and head off trouble

s Commissioner Jesse J. Knight, Jr.'s dissenting opinion, chiding the CPUC for abandoning its principles.

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