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[/b]Chronology Of California's Power Crisis
Here's an Associated Press timeline of key events in California's utility deregulation:
1996: Gov. Pete Wilson signs legislation to open California's electricity market to competition.
1998: Utilities begin taking steps to divest themselves of power generation plants. Rates they can charge consumers are capped until the utilities complete that task, expected in 2002.
1999: San Diego Gas & Electric becomes first California utility to deregulate, allowing it to lift the price cap. Within a year, customers' bills triple as the utility passes on high wholesale power costs.
2000:
May 22: The California Independent System Operator, manager of the state power grid, declares the first of more than 30 Stage Two alerts, when power reserves drop below 5 percent.
June 15: Rolling blackouts in San Francisco affect thousands. The blackouts are caused by slim power supplies due to several Northern California power plants shut down for maintenance.
Aug. 2: Gov. Gray Davis calls for investigation into possible price manipulation in wholesale electricity market.
Sept. 7: State regulators approve plan for San Diego customers that caps their rates for three years.
Dec. 7: ISO declares first Stage 3 emergency as power reserves fall below 1.5 percent. Conservation efforts avert rolling blackouts.
Dec 15: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approves a flexible rate cap plan, but allows power suppliers to charge utilities more if they can prove a higher price is warranted.
Dec. 26: Southern California Edison sues FERC, alleging the agency failed to ensure that wholesale electricity is sold at reasonable rates.
2001:
Jan. 4: State regulators approve emergency rate hikes of 7 percent to 15 percent for customers of SoCal Edison and PG&E, who say they have lost billions of dollars because they cannot pass on high wholesale costs to customers. They later warn of bankruptcy and layoffs.
Jan. 11: ISO declares Stage 3 alert, but stops short of ordering blackouts. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson extends emergency order requiring out-of-state companies to sell power to California.
Jan. 16: ISO declares Stage 3 alert as several plants report a shortage of natural gas needed to operate. Edison says it doesn't have the money to pay $596 million in bills that came due.
Jan. 17: ISO orders the first rolling blackouts of California's electricity crisis. The outages affect several hundred thousand customers in northern and central California. Gov. Gray Davis signs emergency order allowing state Department of Water Resources to buy power as part of a plan to stave off bankruptcy for the utility companies and further blackouts.
1.18.01
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