Hampered

Efforts by the General Accounting Office (GAO) to assess the outlook for California’s electricity supplies this summer were stymied by a lack of key information and data limitations, the government agency recently told Congress. Among other things, the GAO said that several requests to look at electric power purchase contracts in the state were rebuffed by officials with the office of Gov. Gray Davis on the grounds that if such information was handed over, there was a risk that contract details could wind up in the public domain, threatening future contract negotiations.