FC: California tech firms want less energy regulation, not more

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41488,00.html

   Tech Hot Over Energy, Not Bush
   by Declan McCullagh and Ryan Sager
   2:00 a.m. Jan. 30, 2001 PST
   
   WASHINGTON -- President Bush and key members of his Cabinet met Monday
   to chat about California's power woes, but they offered little in the
   way of promises.
   
   Bush said that the Golden State's electricity problems should be
   solved by, well, the same state officials who caused them in the first
   place: "The situation is going to be best remedied in California by
   Californians."
   
   That's OK with the state's technology firms, which view the free
   market as the best solution -- albeit a long-term one -- for the
   two-week crisis that has featured rolling blackouts and a Stage 3
   emergency that will continue at least until midnight Monday.

   Instead of embracing additional government regulation, Silicon
   Valley's manufacturing leaders blame the legislature's 1996 price
   controls for causing the crisis -- barring utilities such as Pacific
   Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison from raising prices
   and nudging them to the brink of bankruptcy.
   
   "There's a strong consensus that market forces can help solve this
   crisis," says John Greenagel, a spokesman for AMD. Greenagel says
   partial deregulation led to an unfortunate state that he dubs "this
   extremely stupid, so-called deregulation."
   
   AMD is part of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group (SVMG), an
   organization formed in 1977 by HP's David Packard that now boasts 190
   members -- and is anything but pleased about what's happening to their
   vital electricity supplies.
   
   SVMG takes a largely libertarian approach: It advocates deregulation,
   and faults the government for forcing utilities to pay for electricity
   on the open market while capping the rates that utilities could charge
   their customers. Until recently, regulators also prevented utilities
   from agreeing to long-term contracts to buy electricity at stable
   prices.

   [...]



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