This book attempts to explain what went wrong in California’s restructured energy markets and what must be done to restore California’s economy and build new electricity systems. The intention here is to reconcile the principles of competition and regulation. California had a severe electricity crisis for about thirteen months beginning in May of 2000. The economic consequences and political fallout that arose from this crisis persist. California’s economy continues to suffer and the state’s treasury is deeply in debt. The state’s three investor-owned utilities were nearly financially decimated. San Diego Gas & Electric has recovered to a greater degree than the other two only because its retail prices are about three times the national average and, for a time, well above the other two IOUs in California. Southern California Edison has recently been restored to investment grade and was granted a rate increase. Pacific Gas & Electric is emerging from bankruptcy. This book discusses all of this in greater detail. The problems and consequences arising from California’s ill-fated foray into electricity market restructuring could damage the state for years to come. Challenges of this nature are not new to the Golden State. In the past, as we explain here, pragmatic, not entrenched, approaches have worked best in California. If California is to relatively quickly restore its previous enviable economic vitality and recover from the damage done to tarnish its luster, pragmatic approaches must again be used.

The California Electricity Crisis details the events that ultimately led to the crisis: the policy decisions, consequences of those decisions, and alternatives that could have averted the crisis and the current blight."--Jacket.

The Energy Antitrust Handbook presents a guide to an industry of increasing importance to the U.S. economy. The Handbook is designed to assist energy, regulatory, and antitrust lawyers in understanding the multilayered complexity of this field. Historically, energy has been at the center of the development of the antitrust laws. The oil industry, for example, has been the source of many seminal antitrust cases, while the electric and natural gas industries were considered to be the province of regulation. However, competition began to enter these two industries and develop particularly in the late 1980s and 1990s. This book provides a basic background of the history and economic structure of electricity and gas and the applicable regulatory structure. In addition, it explains the application of antitrust laws to these industries both by the courts and the agencies, particularly the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Energy Antitrust Handbook also offers insight on how the past may be a prologue for issues that are currently in flux and reflects the greater attention being given to electricity issues by the courts and federal agencies.Lawyers familiar with antitrust will gain an understanding of gas and electricity product issues, the market structure, and the unique application of the antitrust laws to these industries. Lawyers and executives familiar with these industries but not with antitrust law will find this book provides both basic as well as pervasive coverage of the antitrust laws applicable to energy.