Fifty years in the electricity businesses and now he' s been named the energy czar by California's governor. The state needs someone like that to save it from an energy disaster triggered by deregulation. We just took a swan dive off of a high board. We thought the water was going to be 12 feet deep. Twenty-four states have also passed laws to deregulate their electric industries and 18 more are looking into it.
Deregulation is a disaster when there's a shortage.
It's not that California did it wrong. It's just that this is the oxygen of life. Much of California's energy problems stem from prosperity. In spite of that demand, no major power plants were built in California for 12 years. Now crews are scrambling to bring four new plants on line by the end of the summer, but it will be years before enough can be built to meet demand.