Relief

Congressional lawmakers from California and other western statesrenewed their pleas for aid from the Bush administration to end thepower crisis in their region during a House subcommittee hearinglast week.

Several congressional lawmakers from California yesterdayrenewed their pleas for help from the Bush administration to endthe power crisis in their home state, with some urging a Housesubcommittee to direct FERC to install caps on wholesale power inthe short term while others suggested adjusting Daylight SavingsTime in the region to conserve power.

The cure and the illness in California’s electricity crisisshared the spotlight Wednesday as the state finished its whirlwind27-hour, sealed-bid power auction and the state’s third majorinvestor-owned utility appealed to state regulators for a five-yearsurcharge and a $100 million cash-conservation program to avoid thefinancial torpor of its two larger fellows private-sectorutilities.

The Kansas City, MO, city government has voted to give naturalgas consumers some relief from high natural gas prices. The citycouncil in a special meeting voted to immediately repeal theresidential natural gas section of an emergency utility tax thathas been imposed on consumers since 1952. The tax, which wasenacted due to reasons that no one in the city council cancurrently recall, varied from 0.5%, up to 4% over the last 46years.

The Kansas City, MO, city government has voted to give naturalgas consumers some relief from high natural gas prices. The citycouncil voted last week to immediately repeal the residentialnatural gas section of an emergency utility tax that has beenimposed on consumers since 1952. The tax, which was enacted due toreasons that no one in the city council can currently recall,varied from 0.5%, up to 4% over the last 46 years.

El Paso Merchant Energy, an affiliate of El Paso Natural Gas, isreaping “monopoly rents in excess of 7,000% higher than the justand reasonable rate approved by the Commission for its regulatedsibling,” Southern California Edison told the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission last week.

El Paso Merchant Energy, an affiliate of El Paso Natural Gas, isreaping “monopoly rents in excess of 7,000% higher than the justand reasonable rate approved by the Commission for its regulatedsibling,” Southern California Edison told the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission last week.

California energy officials held their breath Monday and bracedthemselves for what might be the severest test yet for the state’soverworked electricity infrastructure and overheated wholesalepower market.

Aside from the political cries for regulatory actions to provideconsumer electricity rate relief, two days of federal hearingsMonday and Tuesday turned up a wide array of diagnoses andpotential prescriptions for curing what ails California’sstill-convalescing wholesale power market.