California Quagmire - See Spencer letter to Wall St. Journal

Californians Will Be Paying Energy Crisis Bill for Years

The proposed electricity rate hike that will hit many customers of the state's two largest utilities will not be the end of the costs that all Californians will pay for years, even decades, because of the energy crisis. Nobody in California will escape the high risks or burden. One reason is the rate hike will go, not only toward purchasing electricity directly, but also toward paying for the extraordinary borrowing that the state must take on. By now, the outlines of the crisis that grew out of the state's flawed deregulation are well-known, but the dimensions of the rescue plan enacted by Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature have raised the potential long-term costs to unprecedented levels.