Don't tell a resident of California how wonderful power deregulation is.
People are pretty fed up with it already.
Shortages and price spikes, especially in Southern California over the summer, forced utilities to pay exorbitant prices for power in the spot market, where wholesalers have the upper hand. Energy bills in the state have doubled or tripled in many cases, and legislators in Sacramento passed emergency price caps to lessen the impact on frustrated residents. The legislation was a repudiation of sweeping deregulatory moves set in motion just two years earlier. So much for reform in the state where it all began. It's pretty clear now that the transition toward a healthy, unregulated energy market will be long, muddled, and painful.