They're the ones cheating us and they're the ones we must target. All sides agree that takeovers would be an extraordinary, unprecedented intervention into California's electricity industry. The state could pay acquisition costs through revenue from electricity sales, he said. It ain't like they're loss leaders. But such possibilities raise a million questions, ranging from taxpayer exposure to technical issues regarding use of any asset acquired, spokesman Steve Maviglio said.
Public power is the public's defense against the greed and dysfunction of a market run amok.
But Republican legislators, who have long opposed Davis' efforts to buy a statewide electricity transmission, think the state would be making a big mistake by seizing private plants or building its own. But state officials claim that market manipulation has contributed as well. State seizures would discourage investment and hurt the industry, Williams said. Seizing power plants would do nothing to help those two objectives. Any attempt to take Duke's property through eminent domain would spark a lawsuit, Williams said.