Gouge the public, lose your power plant. Faced with growing bills and dwindling options, many Democratic lawmakers are pushing for use of emergency powers or eminent domain to force generators to negotiate lower wholesale electricity prices. We ought to levy an excess profit tax and, if they don't take their foot off our throat, seize a plant or two to sober them up. The increasingly tough talk about seizing assets, while motivated by an immediate desire to extract concessions, fits into a longer-term push for California to produce some of its own electricity to boost supply and protect against spiraling prices.
Critics blast the notion of seizure, however, as a bargaining ploy or political grandstanding.
They're the ones cheating us and they're the ones we must target. All sides agree that takeovers would be an extraordinary, unprecedented intervention into California's electricity industry. The state could pay acquisition costs through revenue from electricity sales, he said. It ain't like they're loss leaders. But such possibilities raise a million questions, ranging from taxpayer exposure to technical issues regarding use of any asset acquired, spokesman Steve Maviglio said.