California stops movement toward retail competition

Fuente: platts

The California Public Utilities Commission at its biweekly meeting on Thursday unanimously passed an order to close a 1994 rulemaking and investigation it had opened to consider restructuring the state's electric industry and to provide customers with direct access to the competitive market for generation services. At the meeting, Commissioner Carl Wood said that the order's passage effectively means that the state is no longer considering a competitive retail energy market.

In the brief order, the PUC determined that, "The issues raised in these proceedings are now either moot or are being addressed elsewhere; therefore, as a procedural matter, these proceedings should be closed. Closing these proceedings does not prejudge any issues pending other dockets."

Wood also said, "The commission should close this deregulation proceeding, not just because there is no continuing need for it, but also because it was a disaster for ratepayers, utilities and their employees." After passing a deregulation bill in 1996, California expected to bring lower rates to its residents while improving its power supply situation. Starting in 2001, the state realized its plan was faulty as wholesale and retail rates skyrocketed and its two largest investor-owned utilities experienced dire financial problems. As a result, the state's deregulation plan has become an example of a failed experiment, which will cost its residents billions of dollars for years to come.