For the utility, wresting its assets from PUC control is the real point.

Gas & Electric Co.'s 17-month-old proposal to divest its hydro assets via auction likely is dead, a casualty of California's ongoing energy market turmoil. Despite this reality, the utility's auction proposal remained active at the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) as of press time in mid-January, even as the governor and state legislature held emergency meetings amid rolling blackouts.

1 Staff Report to the Federal Energy Commission on Western Markets and the Causes of the Summer 2000 Price Abnormalities—Part 1, Nov. 1, 2000 (Staff Report), p. 6-1.

2 Order Directing Remedies For California Wholesale Electric Markets, . Note that while FERC recognizes that siting matters and retail demand response programs reside within exclusive state jurisdiction, FERC urges state officials to take certain actions in these areas.

1 "Staff Report to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Western Markets and the Causes of the Summer 2000 Price Abnormalities," Nov. 1, 2000. Available on FERC website, www.ferc.gov. Hereinafter cited as Ferc Staff Report on California.

2 Source: Energy Security Analysis Inc. power databases using EIA form F900 and F759 data.

Off Peak

February 1, 2001

Who Lost Deregulation?

 

 

News Digest

 

With its own private power grid, Texas thinks it's got restructuring licked.