Beginning in the winter of 2000, California's power supply has had a shortage leading to many blackouts across the state. Electricity cannot be stored; it has to be generated, transformed, and distributed to meet the exact demand. Therefore, a power shortage occurs when the demand is not immediately met. There are four main causes of the blackouts: restricted hydroelectric power, no new facilities, growing population, and price mitigation.
First, California has been relying on Pacific Northwest power industries to supply the generation of power. Because of recent droughts in the area, reservoir levels are too low to keep up with the growing demand for electricity in California. They cannot generate enough power to be considered a reliable source. Hence, the hydroelectric power companies have breached their agreement to supply power.
Second, since 1970 there have been no new nuclear power plants built. The reason is that there has been tremendous pressure from environmentalists to keep the area free of the nuclear power industry. In addition, there have been no new generators produced to keep up with the growing population.
Third, the growing population has posed to be another source of the problem. There have been dramatic increases in computers, air conditioners, and entertainment systems. Also, there have been increases in energy intensive businesses.
Fourth, power shortages have created an increase in demand for electricity. The price for electricity has now increased dramatically from five cents per KWH to over one dollar per KWH. However, the Public Utility Board has limited distributors to charge only seven cents per KWH. Due to these conditions, suppliers are in billion-dollar debt. The government needs to use its powers of the utility industry to aid California in its power shortages. .
In order to get the region back into the 21st century the local governments are going to have to change their perception of power companies.
Similarly, Southern California Edison owed $ 2.6 billion. ... California relies on out-of-state energy suppliers for 25% of its power. ... There was a shortage of energy and as a result California experienced necessary rolling blackouts to curtail energy use. ... This increased the need for more energy in California. ... Electricity prices have stabilized for the most part and there haven't been rolling blackouts since 2000. ...
The blackout came at a time when electricity use in Ontario was at its peak. ... Ontario should adopt the methods used by California to put conservation and efficiency measures in place when it experienced rolling blackouts. Millions of Californians participated in a wide range of conservation programs that covered all sectors of the economy. ... This method worked very well in California. ... The following recommendations will help to prevent future blackouts: 1. ...
States such as California and New York do not have enough power to supply their thousands and thousands of homes and are sometimes forced to use rolling blackouts. ... California is a state that uses significant amounts of hydroelectric power. ... The recent droughts in California have caused many reservoirs to dry up. California hopes that the drought will end and the reservoirs can be filled again. If not California may have to reduce dam spillover. ...
California's disastrous experiment with deregulation, which also started with promises of cheaper power, ended in early 2003 after eight years of economic misery for consumers. The rolling blackouts and tripling of the amount people were paying for their power bills are proof of that In conclusion, if the Global Economy was to function without any government intervention it would collapse. ...
For example, in California a driver is allowed to have 0.08% or less alcohol in the body and if caught with a higher amount his or her drivers license could be taken away, also could be arrested, sent to jail or given a fine. ... In some cases drinking for the first time could cause instant blackouts. ...
The State of California passed a similar deregulation in 1996, with terrifying results on the consumer side. ... As well, there were frequent occurrences of blackouts/brownouts, stemming from consumer "overuse", and under "power-budgeting" on the part of the companies. ... After the disastrous deregulation effects in California, meeting consumer's needs must be considered the primary goal. ...
Thus, under current federal regulations nonutility power producers can sell electricity to any utility on the grid- (Moorhouse, p.1) In April 1994 the California Public Utility Commission established a policy that opened access to all power producers enabling independent generators to compete and sell electricity directly to large industrial customers instead of having to utilize the traditional utilities. ... In the case of California's deregulation, utilities sold their power plants to electricity wholesalers; unfortunately there was little incentive for these suppliers to increase th...
California's solution II. ... This in turn could produce more blackouts and power outages. ... Consumers in California have seen one of the first steps to deregulating. As of January 1998 California electric bills have been in a format which allows the consumers compare the savings of switching companies. ...