If California had not chosen to regulate the energy market, new plants would have been built to meet the needs of the growing population. Californians still would have seen price increases, but they would have had a strong economic incentive to conserve energy. Over time, new energy providers seeking to profit from the demand and price increases would have gradually increased supply and driven prices down. Instead, California capped prices and restricted supply. This summer's blackouts will be the direct result of this exceedingly misguided policy.
Free markets work.
Government, not markets or deregulation, causes the economic woes we face today. Free markets insure that supply and demand are evenly matched, preventing shortages. Contrary to the claims of environmentalists, free markets always promote conservation by increasing the price of precious resources as they become scarcer. Advocates of socialist central planning in Washington may claim to have the solutions to energy shortages, but in truth market forces cannot be ignored any more than the laws of physics. Americans who want to continue to enjoy uninterrupted energy supplies should oppose any federal regulation of energy markets.