Water supply is only one of many crises facing California. There's not enough water to go around, Pauli said. There's not enough electrical energy either. Our state faces a serious energy crisis. Prices for gasoline, diesel fuel and natural gas have risen.
Electricity rates are high and are going higher in the coming months.
Many of the symptoms that affect our water supply picture also have a bearing on energy suppliesa lack of capacity coupled with growing demand and regulations. Since electric industry deregulation in 1996, our California economy has surged, raising demand for electricity. No new power plants have been built since the early 1980s. The assumptions about deregulation benefits have evaporated, he said. The wholesale electric market is clearly not functioning properly.