The California Public Utilities Commission votes to open California's electrical market to deregulation. Gov. Pete Wilson signs legislation to open up California's electricity market to competition. The bill was approved by the Legislature with nearly unanimous support.
Utilities begin taking steps to divest themselves of their generation plants.
Rates they can charge consumers are capped until the utilities complete that task. By mid-summer, those customers' bills have tripled. The California Independent System Operator declares the first of 36 Stage Two alerts, when power reserves drop below 5 percent. The blackouts are caused by slim power supplies due to several Northern California power plants shut down for maintenance. Davis signs two bills stemming from power crisis in San Diego.