Exponential Enrons Ahead

[jpak]

http://www.energybulletin.net/6909.html

One of the least-discussed provisions in the Bush energy bill that has passed the House and is now fast-tracked in the Senate is PUHCA repeal. "Pooka repeal," you say, "what's that?"

The Public Utilities Holding Company Act (PUHCA) is a cornerstone New Deal financial reform signed into law in 1935. It was the biggest battle in FDR's first term. Utilities had become cash cows for power moguls who created complex holding company pyramids for milking ultra-reliable ratepayer income to feed speculative investments. The crash of 1929 knocked these structures flat and took down millions of small investors who had been sold on the reliability of utilities as an investment.

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And get ready to start paying your power bill to Halliburton because some of the companies best positioned to take advantage of this deregulation are oil companies: "The top five oil companies now control 50 percent of US oil production. If they also controlled public utilities, they would be too powerful for any government to regulate," said Hargis.

Also, the impact on renewable energy could be devastating. "If GE owns your utility," Hargis told me, "nothing will be able to stop them from shoving a nuclear plant down your throat. This will kill renewables."

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Hooray!!

[loveable liberal]

1. necessity is the mother of invention!!

There is plenty of stuff out there now for people to take advantage of. Wind and Solar can provide enough energy to heat and light homes. The Power company monopoly will cave in under its own weight. Super high energy prices are the best thing to happen to the energy market, including gasoline. I used to work for Xcel, trust me.....

Also, people should write their local public utilities commission to battle rate increases. People who work for private utility companies get paid way too much. Since they also have a reliable customer base, they waste energy too and pass the costs onto residential consumers.

[dcfirefighter]

2. and yet, people on this site

keep insisting that competition is evil.

There are certain geographical monopolies that should be bid out, such as the right to run power lines; the generation of electricity should be competitive.

Grandfathering old, dirty plants means that new plants must cost more than old ones; this is inefficient. Stringent pollution standards (as well as Carbon Taxes) should apply to old as well as new plants.

[jpak]

3. Competition is evil???

Sez who???

The states leading the way with renewables (i.e., Blue States with Renewable Portfolio Standards) are the ones that DEregulated their electricity markets.

Furthermore, renewables advocates, such as Amory Lovins, have argued for REAL completion among energy technologies since the 1970's.

agin, sez who???

[dcfirefighter]

4. apparently not you

...but there are plenty of socialists about...

[loveable liberal]

5. deregulation for the utility industry was stupid....

introducing competition into stable markets where industry subsidized residential customers. Deregulation has had the effect of residential customers subsidizing industrial rates, huge increases in executive pay (because now they have to "compete"..NOT!), it wont be a race to the cleanest coal burning plant because now the focus isnt on providing electricity in exchange for a reasonable rate of return, now its all about profit. Cheap coal burning plants like the one being built in North Dakota, 1800 megawatt, mercury vapor spewing pos. Not to mention just a few companies buying up all the little municipal and locally owned energy producers.

People who tout competition so much usually fail to mention that the point is to eliminate the competition.

[loveable liberal]

6. nothing wrong with socialism.

Especially concerning those employed by city, state and federal governments, no?