California has never exceeded its capacity. What's happened is the power producers at the margin have cut off power at crucial times and made people pay through the nose. On May 2, California's lieutenant governor, Cruz M. Bustamante, and Assemblywoman Barbara Matthews filed suit against five of the largest power generators in the state, alleging that the companies had engaged in illegal gouging that cost the state billions. If deregulation brought on the chicanery in California, the last thing the country needs is more of it. More nuclear power plants are no answer, either.
Nuclear power is a complete failure.
You could say that nuclear energy has caused our energy crisis. It's inefficient, unreliable, unsafe. Wasserman cites the amount of money the United States has spent on nuclear power over the past fifty years. Nuclear power is susceptible to all kinds of problems. During the California energy mess, four nuclear power plants were licensed to operate, Wasserman says.