Imbalance of Power

Competitors say delay in electric deregulation helps PG&E, other utility monopolies

A A A Comments (0) By Matt Smith Wednesday, Dec 31 1997

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"There's no need for this couple of hundred million dollar [state-supported] effort. This is basically duplicative of the marketplace," Foster says of the new state-chartered agencies. "We have been predicting that after a year or two, it would be done away with."

But Barbara Barkovich, who represents industrial electricity customers on the Independent System Operator's board of directors, says California business is not a perfect world, and a level playing field needs independ-ent referees.

"The Independent System Operator acts as an equitable traffic cop for the electric system," Barkovich says. "I think that there's a belief that, without an independent operator, you could never convince people you could be fair. The reality is that you have to deal with a perception issue.

"As far as the Power Exchange goes, I think you need some sort of transparent price development, and the Exchange provides that."

And that perception problem is why regulators were privately dismayed when they realized that they weren't going to be able to meet their deadline, Barkovich says.

"Sure, I'm worried," Barkovich says. "We really didn't want to have a delay. But we also want the thing to work, and work well.