But the lights went out even before this party started. Demand for electricity jumped when deregulators thought it would only mosey upward. That proved to be a threefold error in judgment. By 2000, in-state power supplies had run dangerously low. Without being able to raise rates and facing wholesale costs that were 10 times what they were in 1999, the future dimmed at former utility giants Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison.
Some older plants are wholly inefficient.
And if rolling blackouts and bankrupt wholesalers don't flip your switch, the problem could be on the move. We could also throw in the impact on the nation's tenuous economy when the cost to anyone anywhere doing business with California has surged dramatically. Laundry after 7 p.m. A few fledgling conservation efforts are being considered, all of which make perfect sense. Of course, they made just as much sense when power was cheap and plentiful.