Second day of rolling blackouts starts

Thu Jan 18 20:31:33 UTC 2001

The "gamble", as you put it, was changed significantly when deregulation
moved the goal-posts. It was dependent on the utilities retaining control of
generator costs. The de-regulators were supposed to cover that scenario.
They didn't. If an indivudual tried this, with another individual, they call
it extortion and the individual in queston would be rotting in jail. The
salient fact is that the generators are threatening to bankrupt PG&E unless
the state pays the extortion amount, by midnight.

Does anyone have a clue what would happen if the state doesn't pay? Would
the state have to step in and start operating PG&E? IMHO, if this isn't
corrected, todays rolling blackouts will be trivial, compared to a total
PG&E collapse of services.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: matthew at tycho.net [mailto:matthew at tycho.net]
> Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 3:00 AM
> To: Roeland Meyer; 'Sean Donelan'; nanog at merit.edu
> Cc: matthew at admin.tycho.net
> Subject: RE: Second day of rolling blackouts starts
> 
> 
> 
> You're skipping the part where...
> 
> > PG&E is prevented from passing on their cost by law. 
> Generator charges
> > currently exceed allowed end-user rates by two orders of magnitude.
> 
> is because PG&E made a deal with the legislature and the CPUC 
> in which they
> accepted frozen consumer rates in trade for other concessions 
> that resulted
> in large profits and other transition charges which have been 
> passed on to, 
> and are still in the pockets of, the parent holding company.
> 
> at the time, the frozen rates were *above* their cost, and 
> they were betting
> on a future cost structure that would result in huge profits 
> for them and 
> their parent.
> 
> this, in my opinion, is no different from *any other* gamble 
> one makes in
> business management. sometimes big bets pay off... and other 
> times, you're
> so wrong that you're forced into bankruptcy.
> 
> perhaps the state should step in and bail out Northpoint, who 
> bet on the
> Verizon deal going through. or any number of other dot com 
> businesses that
> gambled and lost.
> 
> -matthew kaufman
>  Tycho Networks/DSL.net
>  matthew at tycho.net
> 
> 