California consumer advocates, who favor price controls, are critical of the congressional response. But Tim Ransdell, executive director of the nonpartisan California Institute for Federal Policy Research, said the divisions in the congressional delegation reflect the complexity of the power crisis. Price caps may be the right way to go or they may not be. There are strong arguments in varying directions. They've got to do something.
Nobody knows what the right something is.
Congressional delegations from other states affected by the power crisis, such as Washington and Oregon, are similarly divided. Members of both parties sent strong signals to the administration that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was not doing enough to address the power crisis, the aide said. That message played a role in President Bush's reported desire to replace FERC Chairman Curtis Hebert and the commission's subsequent flurry of threats to order power providers to pay refunds for overcharging California utilities, the aide speculated. Some Democrats believe that the pressure for federal electricity price controls will grow as consumers throughout California start seeing a recent retail rate hike show up in their bills. Widespread blackouts this summer could add more momentum.