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Saying that it is time to stop “playing politics” and work with federal regulators to create a viable wholesale energy market, the head of Arizona’s Corporation Commission lashed out Monday at neighboring California officials from the governor on down to the regulators. He made his comments as part of a presentation to a regional energy conference in Las Vegas, NV.

Saying that it is time to stop “playing politics” and work with federal regulators to create a viable wholesale energy market, the head of Arizona’s Corporation Commission lashed out Monday at neighboring California officials from the governor on down to the regulators. He made his comments as part of a presentation to a regional energy conference in Las Vegas, NV.

While the creditworthiness status of many energy companies is on life support due to the economic downturn in the industry and rash of scandals, the industry’s interest in using clearinghouses to jump-start sluggish trading appears to be lukewarm at this stage, said industry and clearinghouse representatives last week. More important are finishing the standardized market process and the western markets proceeding, giving some stable guidelines as to how business can be conducted, some believe.

California’s state legislature, which unanimously launchedelectric industry restructuring four years ago, went back to thedrawing board Thursday in Sacramento, examining a series ofmid-course corrections or a spate of re-regulation depending on theviews of different industry sources.