He requested the investigation in March citing concerns about allegations of price gouging and market manipulation in California's wholesale power market. The united front could be the only way to avoid blackouts and steep rate increases as demand peaks this summer, according to the Utility Consumers' Action Network. No power alerts were called as reserves stayed above 7 percent. The House Government Reform Committee plans energy hearings in San Diego on Thursday. The state Senate starts hearings April 18 in its inquiry into allegations that electricity suppliers illegally withheld power to drive up California's wholesale prices.
Wholesalers deny such accusations.
High demand, high wholesale energy costs, transmission glitches and a tight supply worsened by scarce hydroelectric power in the Northwest and maintenance at aging California power plants are all factors in California's electricity crisis. Electricity and natural gas suppliers, scared off by the two companies' poor credit ratings, are refusing to sell to them, leading the state in January to start buying power for the utilities' nearly 9 million residential and business customers. Even before those increases, California residents paid some of the highest prices in the nation for electricity. Federal statistics from October show residential customers in California paid an average of 10.7 cents per kilowatt hour, or 26 percent more than the nationwide average of 8.5 cents. Only customers in New England, New York, Alaska and Hawaii paid more.