posted on January 18, 2001 06:37:41 PM new
Hate to say it but I find it hard to believe that the state of CA could not see the train coming when they were standing on the tracks.
If they had just announced that they were going to seize the businesses and run them they could never have gotten away with it.
But if they announce we are going to change the law so it is impossible to run these companies then they can declare an emergency and do what they want. How convenient.
When they made it illegal for the power distributing companies to make long term agreements for buying they had to know it would kill them. They knew it would force them to buy on the spot market and they would be charged anything the sellers wanted because they had no reserves and nowhere else to go. They knew no big generating capacity was going to magically appear in a matter of months. It takes years of planning and long term orders to build generating capacity.
Sorry. This was engineered to happen. I don't think we have seen the full extent of the grab yet.
[ edited by gravid on Jan 18, 2001 06:39 PM ]
posted on January 18, 2001 07:50:33 PM new
The way I see it is that PG&E (North Cal) guarantees its investors X percentage dividends per year.
It seems that PG&E might have made some really bad investments and lost all the money they were to use to purchase electricity, and to pay their investors. They did say just last week, that for the first time in ----years, they would be unable to pay dividends????Hello!!!!
So, the great cover-up was engineered by crying poor mouth and manipulating those rolling black-outs....The blak-outs are real, unfortunately! But the reason behind it is a big LIE...But what do you tell the People, when you have just screwed them? LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES!
And...to boot, our compassionate republican pres elect told us "you're on your own"...not quite that way, but close:
"Of course, this will have top priority; but I do not foresee calling for a Government Involvement..
California needs to build new Power Plants..."
End of talk....S.O.B. Moronic Jerk!
******** Gosh Shosh!
posted on January 18, 2001 08:12:19 PM new
Well, it also makes it a little more difficult listing...and I cannot afford a lap-top...
And the latest is that NOW, the natural gas company plans of following PG&E...So, we will be freezing, un-employed (no electricity for all the machines) and in the dark...One of the RICHEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD Are we a JOKE or WHAT!!!!I am soo pizzed off I am seeing red!
The freaking lie about why PG&E will not let us know ahead of time when the black out will take place is:
"If we let people know ahead of time, those with intents to commit crimes will know where to go..." to which I say BULL!
As if...
They won't tell us simply because they are afraid of retaliation in the form of bombing of local PG&E offices...that's why! They do NOT have our safety in mind!
If they did,, the lights would be ON when people leave work, in the DARK, in WINTER, causing accidents; and sick people at home, with oxigen equipment suddenly are without!!!!. And children are stuck and terrified in dark elevators!
And they have the cojones to tell us they have OUR SAFETY AT HEART???? It is an OUTRAGE!!!!!
********
Gosh Shosh!
posted on January 18, 2001 08:15:59 PM new
gravid, it's not illegal to make long term contracts for buying power in California. That's not what deregulation did. What it did was force the utility companies to sell off all of their owned power producing plants, becoming reliant on purchasing power through the newly created Power Exchange. These plants were bought by big out of state power companies, like Enron, Synergy, etc. THEY are the ones who have colluded to set ridiculously high prices. THEY were the ones who lobbied to have California's electricity market deregulated, and yes, they knew beforehand exactly how it was going to shake out. That is why they have posted profits as high as 300% for the last quarter, made from ripping California consumers off. The idea behind deregulation, was that the addition of new power distribution companies would create competition in the electricity market, and thus lower prices. The problem is that these newly created small companies could not possibly compete with the big corporations who bought up the plants and colluded to set the high prices. These small power companies are now, for the most part out of business. Most of those consumers who DID lock in their electricity pricesin long term contracts are now SOL, since those companies are kaput, out of business, being unable to pay the high price of electricity set by the mega companies that now own the power plants.
What is interesting here, is San Diego County was the first in California to deregulate last June. The consumer's electricity almost tripled immediately upon deregulation, causing a major economic crisis. Only with emergency legislation was our power bills capped at the price effective last June, which is still double of what it was from June 1999. And we're not off the hook, as the difference between that cap and the price that our utility has to pay for power goes into a "Balancing Account" which comes due in 2002. The legislature has promised that the utility WILL BE PAID for this accrual, so guess who's going to get stuck paying it? The consumer, so that "solution" really was "no solution".
What Californians find so very hard to believe, is how in the period of 6 months (from the time of deregulation) all of sudden California is plunged into a power "shortage" causing us to suffer from "rolling blackouts". Do they honestly think that the population of California and the use of electricity increased so much in 6 months time that all of a sudden there is a "shortage" of electricity? There is no shortage. What we HAVE had are out of state power companies taking power plants OFFLINE for "unscheduled maintenance", and on some days as much as 40% of the power producing plants suddenly taken offline due to these "unforseen emergencies". And to add insult to injury, when State inspectors are sent out to the plants to investigate said "emergencies", they are denied access by the power plant management for up to 8 hours. HMMM...sound like a conspiracy? You bet it is. This is what Big Business does best and why they don't want the government messing in their business....tends to intefere with their illgotten profits.
And for those of you non-Californians who don't care much about this because you think it doesn't affect you, better pay attention because it does, and it will. Because this will cause this state to plunge into an economic depression the likes of which we have never seen. And as California goes, so goes the rest of the nation. Count on it.
posted on January 18, 2001 08:20:48 PM new
Enron Inc. was Dubya's biggest campaign contributor. And it's payback time, and yes, he OWES them bigtime. He's not going to do a damn thing for California. I also think he was every bit aware of what was coming down the road. Well, it's HIS ass that's going to be in the sling.
posted on January 18, 2001 08:28:22 PM new
Speaking of PG&E, they have the balls to file for bankruptcy, yet wanting to keep their profit producing subsidiary assets apart from the bankruptcy action. Kinda like me telling my creditors I have no money to pay them, but they can't make me sell my winter cabin, or my summer lodge, or my weekend love shack because they are all located out of state. Hmmpf.
posted on January 18, 2001 08:31:46 PM newkrs....well..maybe not freezing, yet... But it could...
Seriously tho, many have health issues preventing them from staying warm. I am one of those, due to two illnesses necessiting chemo. Left my internal thermostat a little wacco...way up, then way down...
But I AM healthy now...There are those who are not!
And KatyD, you are right: the rest of the country will suffer from it. Already, in just 2 days of black-outs, small businesses are way down; those businesses order supplies: they may come from out-of-state. If they cannot stay in business, they will surely not order, or at least, will cut down on their order. We have already been told this situation could last a good two years... Everyone loses...Plus, our getting some power from Oregon is depleting those people! And cold days have just begun in Oregon!
I can already see the writing on the wall: California will break down and start popping up Nuclear Energy Plants, which so many of us have fought and fought against! That's exactly what WizzleBushyTail alluded to today, when he said "California will just have to build new Power Plants..."
Oh! How I wish the White House was in California!!!!
posted on January 19, 2001 10:46:46 AM newgravid...It is hard to pack-up and leave overnight. Moving normally requires planning time, which the Utility Companies did not give Californians. They just hit us...
posted on January 19, 2001 03:10:01 PM new
Shoshanah - I am in Michigan which is planning to deregulate our utilities soon.
We have normal rates for now. In fact this is no problem for me because last year we put 1/3 of our investment money in a fund of naturalgas production and distribution companies.
When there was a huge slump in the auto industry back in the early 70's thousands of
Michigan people picked up and moved to Texas. A lot of them stayed. They were called Black Plates by the Texans for their license plates.
You can still buy a normal decent family home here for $130,000 to $160,000. If you are not too picky it is possible to get something in a less attractive area but not
a slum or the inner city for around $100,000
Pay is up to national standards. Detroit is the arm pit of Michigan but we never go down there unless it is in the day and we know where we are going and where we will park.
We rarely need to for any reason.
In this climate you do need heating. We have weeks at a time it does not get above freezing.
