Deregulation Lite Bill Faces Steep Climb

The newly amended bill pushed by Southern California Edison to create a partially deregulated market was passed by the Senate Rules Committee August 5, but instead of heading to the Senate energy committee for a second review, it was sent to the appropriations committee. The diversion diminishes the prospects of AB 2006, authored by Speaker of the Assembly Fabian N??ez (D-Los Angeles), despite the bill?s overhaul last week. The bill faces considerable opposition?more so since the latest amendments released July 30. ?The bill is moving away from direct access and away from what the governor said he would sign,? said Dan Pellissier, spokesperson for Assemblymember Keith Richman (R-Northridge). Opponents of the bill met with the governor the same day the rules committee passed the bill. Expectations are that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will formally oppose the measure soon. The legislation?s chances have been further diminished by clashes between N??ez and the governor, which erupted during the budget battle. N??ez?s office did not respond to a request for comment. The latest version puts the California Public Utilities Commission in charge of what some say the investor-owned utilities should be doing. The bill now requires the commission to order the investor-owned utilities to procure, schedule, and dispatch power as needed. The new version would also require the California Independent System Operator to tell investor-owned utilities when and where to send power to meet local demand. The grid operator is ?disturbed? by the recent amendments because it could derail the work underway at the CPUC to establish resource adequacy rules, said Stephanie McCorkle, grid operator spokesperson. ?Resource adequacy is very complex, and it is a little risky to have requirements in statute,? she added. ?AB 2006 will set in place a corrupted system from day one?I?d rather do nothing,? said Assemblymember Joe Canciamilla (D-Pittsburg). But doing nothing also wears on the legislators. ?I am afraid we won?t have the will to put an energy policy in place,? Richman said, noting that the month of August is critical for any comprehensive energy legislation. Richman and Canciamilla worked on a bill that would have revived direct access to allow companies to make better power deals and encourage innovation, but it never made it out of committee. Some see the bill as the first act of a play by Edison to get its interests advanced. The expectation is that the utility will follow in the governor?s footsteps and try to turn a loss at the Capitol into a winning ballot initiative, according to Pellissier.

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Deregulation Lite Bill Faces Steep Climb

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