Consumer groups are furious they were not included, since they believe they have some solutions. We have to keep the utilities on the hook, and we have to look at more radical solutions, including public ownership of the transmission system, and central dispatch of power, and much, much more severe restrictions about manipulation of market power and gouging. Consumer groups also are pushing for more conservation of energy and more emphasis on wind, geothermal, and solar power, so-called renewable energy. The crisis was temporarily eased last week by the energy secretary's order. But this week supplies fell off once again.
All sides point to increased power generation as the long- term solution.
Only a few power plants are under construction, but applications to build two dozen more are pending. California needs more generation, and what we need to do is just get through this transition period, this time in which the market's broken, it's out of control. We're waiting for a new generation to come on line, but over the course of the next two to three years, those power plants will get built, and they will start delivering electricity, and that will help alleviate much of the problem California currently faces. The organization that buys emergency power for California, says that the current crisis could last until 2002, which is when one consumer group intends to offer a ballot initiative to scrap deregulation. Yesterday, California's Public Utilities Commission indicated it would order electricity rates increased.