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CA Current has been suffering worsening staff shortages so will not continue providing daily and weekly news on California energy decisions, breakthroughs, developments and dilemmas.

We are so grateful to our faithful subscribers who enabled our virtual (maga)zine to have a wonderful 20-year run.

Here is a brief history of Current:

J.A. Savage and I launched the publication in 2003 after leaving California Energy Markets when founder Arthur O’Donnell departed. We were confident in our energy reporting know how but knew little about starting and sustaining a niche business, and learned on the job.

An initial challenge was reaching agreement among our team on the name of our business and publication. My top pick, “Power Lines,” was shot down as being “soooo Berkeley.” Some of us opposed calling ourselves California Interconnection because of being too wonky.

The launch of our independent women-owned publication, initially called Energy Circuit, was before Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other social media platforms came into existence. It also was well before sponsored free news sites became the dominant news medium.

Our 2003 debut occurred as online publishing was taking off, presenting opportunities, a big one being avoiding costly printing and mailing. It also posed new challenges for us old school journalists, from website development, changing coding language to protecting our news service from getting shared with non subscribers.

At that time, California was still reeling from the deregulation debacle. Democratic Sen. Steve Peace and Republican Assemblymember Jim Brulte, who authored the state’s unanimously approved deregulation law, were still in office. Later that year, Gov. Gray Davis was ousted after being blamed for the energy crisis and the signing in secret of $40 billion-plus energy supply contracts. Voters replaced Davis with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Several months later, Bill Kelly and Mark Nero joined our staff.

Since 2003, we have covered major news events starting with the state’s return to electricity regulation.

Current's coverage highlights over the last two decades include:

PG&E’s first voluntary entry into federal bankruptcy and the state’s unsuccessful effort to return to customers the $5 billion the utility reaped during the start of deregulation and sent to its corporate parent; California’s renewable portfolio standard implemented in 2003, one of the first laws recognizing the dangers of climate change; Passage of AB 32 in 2006, which required for the first time a reduction in greenhouse gases in accordance with the California Air Resources Board’s development of a climate reduction plan; The first massive utility sparked wildfires in 2007 caused by San Diego, Gas & Electric. Three people were killed, dozens of fire fighters injured and 1,300 homes destroyed; The growing clout of environmental justice activists seeking equity in energy and transportation policy and development; The birth and growth of community energy aggregation in California, The radioactive leak at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which led to its early shutdown in 2013; The boom in solar and wind energy and electric vehicles spurred by generous state subsidies; The worsening climate crisis and its exacerbation of wildfires and strains on the grid; The mandated phase out of controversial seawater cooled gas fired coastal power plants in 2010 and subsequent extensions; The PG&E sparked fire that destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85. Southern California Edison’s huge wildfires in 2017 that led to destructive mudslides; The rise of emissions-free large and small battery storage systems feeding the grid and supplying homes; The growth in polluting backup diesel generation; The fits, starts and traction of grid regionalization; The approved settlement to close PG&E's Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant in 2018 and the recent financial and regulatory support to keep it online past its license expirations in 2025; The regulatory undermining last month of solar rooftops after the CPUC spent $3 billion between 2010-17 to subsidize its growth; and Supply chain bottlenecks slowing the decarbonization of the electricity and transportation sectors.

And if you haven't heard, just yesterday Willie Phillips, the newest member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, was named acting chair following the departure of Rich Glick.

During our 20-year life, we survived a number of challenges, from the 2009 financial crisis to the early death of our IT specialist. But the partial retirement of the invaluable Bill Kelly several months ago left a major hole in the business. That was after the retirement co-founder J.A. Savage a decade ago, and Mark Nero’s departure to take on the role of managing editor of two maritime publications.

Luckily, subsequent contributors and support staff helped partially fill the void, infusing new ideas and energy. Special thanks to:

Herman Trabish, a wonderful journalist who provided in-depth news and analysis on complex energy issues;

Ingrid Lobet, a skilled editor and reporter, who left to join the Associated Press climate desk earlier this year; and,

Sarah Calvin, a highly talented web designer and IT consultant.

Tiva Quinn, a hard working editor who willingly jumped into the fast swirling waters of California energy.

Greater thanks goes to you dear readers who kept us in business for two decades.

We may reformulate our business to provide greater value in this quickly changing world of news. We will notify you of any developments.

Best wishes for 2023.

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Auld Lang Zine

Elizabeth McCarthy

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