California electrical shortage audio

Massvm: I then have been using the term "Brown out" incorrectly to describe the situation where the power drops for only a small portion of a second. This is what I am experiencing at this time (if the APC unit is accurate in testing for this). It appears that we are just having fluctuations in my area (approx. one every 30 seconds or so) instead of a constant reduction of either voltage or amps. I really don't know the difference between the two other than that "amps" can make or break you (I have been shocked by both low and high amperage lines with the same stated voltage and the difference was quite apparent). An electrician told us a couple of years ago that we had problems with low amperage in our building which was why the light bulbs were only lasting a couple of weeks (we also went through a computer fan every 6 to 9 months or so during this period as the motors burned out). Since then the electric company replaced the power transformer that feeds our building and now things seem to be back to normal (as far as light bulbs, anyway). I am a bit concerned about this issue as I have a lot of money (for me anyway) invested in my current system, that I am actually satisfied with and wish to keep long term.

wow, but for chriskh, i certainly am proud of the company i keep. the diversity of backgrounds and depth of knowledge displayed by a-goners astounds me more every day. bravo don! bravo massm!

A few comments on the state of power supplies in California from energy land: Texas. While all of the comments made above have some merit. The genesis of the existing power shortages has nothing to do with macro-level economic or energy policy. The State of California and its citizens got into this mess by:

- Making a decision to refuse pemitting of new or expansion of existing power generation capacity, relying on merchant power generation elsewhere to fuel their economy.
-Declining ro make use of existing risk management tools and long term power supply contracts in favor of power purchasing and allocation by a state agency operating in the "spot" market. This makes it infeasible for any private power generator to finance a plant to supply California with power because they have no long term client commitment. Additionally it exposes the power agency to price volatility that no sane business man would accept.
-Implementing price controls on power that limit the price that can be charged by "lines & wires" companies to end users. This has three major effects, first at current market prices exceeding $1000/ megawatt, No one wants to send power to California for the $250/ megawatt maximum cost. Second the lines & wires company lose $750/ megawatt on everything they sell, losing $3 for every 1$ of revenue so that now PG&E and SoCal Edison are insolvent and have negative net worth in the billions. Third, artificially cheap power due to price controls ( users paying 25% of actual cost) increases quantity demanded, which makes the price go up,which makes utilities lose more money, which makes the power generation companies, more reluctant to sell power to them, etc. etc.

The oil business, drilling on public land, etc have very little to do with this problem. Virtually all the generation capacity developed in the U.S in the last 10 years has been in natural gas fired plants. We do not have a shortage of natural gas. However, we cannot radically increase supply, build pipelines to carry it, and build generating plants to turn it into electric power nearly as fast as the idiot politicians and bureaucrats in California can increase demand, restrain supply, and simultaneously attempt to violate the laws of economics and physics.

At the moment major power suppliers are providing the energy in California for free. Neither the utilities or state have funds to pay for it but the bill will come due and the citizens will pay.

This problem is not the result of macroeconomic forces or evil energy companies conspiring against us. Its stupid is as stupid does.

If you are in CA like I am then play it safe while helping out by turning your system off when not in listening use or bring in alternative energy source to power the system. We all an strong economy. BTW: those of you that are not in CA don't think this won't happen in your area. It can and most will unless your state has been planning for lots of power margin in the future. Remember - deregulation is the mantra of large power interests.

I knew my tangent would get this topic on the right path. I would like to agree with cornfedboy, this is a very intelligent panel. I would also like to say to Ignatz, very well said. And to Djjd, I will do some research regarding our oil companies being able to drill everywhere. My initial reaction is bull. We are importing 20% more from OPEC and producing 20% less. Several of our oil fields are about to stop producing. I am a capitalist and will assume our nations oil companies are interested in selling all the oil they can get their hands on. As a business owner, I never want to loss sales to any competitor regardless if I am getting a higher unit price. There are ways of controlling the price without losing sales to OPEC. I am sure OPEC is not sharing the profits with our oil companies for producing less. I will apologize for saying we should kill environmentalist.

California citizens should blame our local politicians (mostly liberals) for setting up our power deregulation this way. I believe that Texas deregulated their power successfully. I also know that all of California’s power companies agreed; they should not have. Actually, I don’t believe that LA participated in this madness. I also believe that LA is making 30 to 40 million a month selling power to the rest of California. We can also blame our local politicians (mostly liberals) for allowing the environmentalist to make it so difficult in building new power plants. I would like to suggest building a lot more nuclear plants. I bet that statement knocked off a few environmentalists. You guys and gals have a great weekend. Pop a beer, uncork a great bottle of wine or… and listen to great music. P.S. Even you Djjd. God bless.