by Paul Gipe
Copyright 2001 by Paul Gipe. All rights reserved. This essay may not be copied or circulated without express permission.
California's power crisis offers an unparalleled opportunity for changing how electricity is produced, used, and valued in California. The system designed by the state's legislature at the behest of the Investor Owned Utilities, out-of-state power generators, and free-market ideologues has failed--catastrophically. It's time for consumers and citizens--the people of California--to regain control of their destiny and construct an electricity supply system that emphasizes using energy wisely and with respect for the environment. Here are a few ideas on how to do so. None are original.
The concepts are simple, as they need to be. Part of the problem with the present system is its complexity. The only people who know how the present system works are the half-dozen power generators "gaming" the system for billions of dollars in excessive profits.
Vouchers: For the cost of buying compact flourescents, new refrigerators and other energy efficient appliances so that rich and poor alike can live better using less electricity.
What you can do: write your Assemblyperson, State Senator, Governor Gray Davis, and your local newspaper to ask that these simple measures be incorporated into legislation now before California's General Assembly.
The Governor and the legislature are desperate for a quick fix that will absolve them of further responsibility for California's deregulation mess. Let's give them something that will better serve the needs of consumers and the environment than more of the business-as-usual proposals now flooding into Sacramento.