Off Peak

March 15, 2001

'I See Now I Was Naive'

 

There's nothing quite like a consumer scorned..

Excerpts from letters sent by private citizens to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and made a part of the official in RDocket No. EL00-95-000.

Dear Sir: I understand slightly higher prices. I understand rationing. I don't understand what is going on now. It's not fair or right. I've written to the President and Congress to complain. Sincerely, Paul from Seattle

Dear Mr. Hoecker: I want to thank you sincerely for the stunning work you've done recently in brokering such a fine deal with PG&E. I thought you might be able to help me hide my assets as well so that my company might be able to declare bankruptcy, thereby allowing me to be free of all my nagging responsibilities. You see, we had a couple of bad years in '97 and '98 and my company racked up a tremendous amount of debt ... But I see now that I was naive. ... With expert help like yours I could have really made out swimmingly. Why am I so darned provincial? Sincerely, Anna in San Francisco

To: chrmn.hoecker@ferc.fed.us Californians must stop battling among themselves over electricity rates and concentrate on the real villains in the energy crisis: DO-NOTHING FEDERAL REGULATORS (that's you guys!!!) Gary in La Jolla

Dear Sirs: I write in opposition to your move yesterday in approving a restructuring plan of PG&E which permits them to sell energy to themselves in order to boost profits. ... I know that the recent election boosted the stock of the robber barons but a rather large number of us voted the other way. Sincerely yours, Ward in San Jose

To: graydavis@governor.ca.gov: I see in the morning papers that the state is going to allow the utility companies to increase the consumer's electric rates ... Bad idea. If an earthquake or other natural disaster caused over 5 billion of damage to the state, everyone would be "Johnny on the Spot" declaring a state of emergency and passing emergency appropriations. Well it is no less an emergency just because greedy people are the cause. Curt Encinitas, Calif.

To: president@whitehouse.gov Power companies are getting obscene prices ... They can shut down at will for "maintenance and repairs." The price gougers must be stopped. Frank Malpitas, Calif.

Dear Editor: Many utilities have placed radio operated devices on air conditioners which allows the utility companies to turn off air conditioners during peak use of power. So as an additional partial solution to our problems, I suggest we use these devices on the OUTSIDE of homes of unreasonable environmentalists who have created much of California's unnecessary red tape and delays in building power plants resulting in higher costs. Then, whenever there is a need for a power blackout, we could turn off the electricity to these people. Perhaps this wouldn't prevent blackouts altogether but it would reduce the blackouts for those who aren't unreasonable environmentalists. Respectfully, Wendell Denair, California

 

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