Consumer groups may take issue to voters (if bill to revamp energy veto'd

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-power19aug19.story
Advocates Threaten to Push Power Initiative
Consumer groups may take issue to voters if the governor vetoes a bill to revamp energy market.
By Marc Lifsher
Times Staff Writer

August 19, 2004

SACRAMENTO — Consumer groups said Wednesday that they might push for a ballot initiative that could close the door on attempts to deregulate California's electricity market should Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger veto a key power bill making its way through the Legislature.

The initiative would ask voters to permanently prohibit manufacturers, big-box stores and other major energy consumers from buying electricity at unregulated prices — a key feature of deregulation scenarios favored by the Schwarzenegger administration, which has said consumers should be allowed to "choose their energy providers."

"If we can figure out a way to bring this directly to the people of California, I think the response would be overwhelmingly favorable," said Bob Finkelstein, executive director of the Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco ratepayers advocacy group also known as TURN. "After the experiment blew up in their faces in 2001, they'll say, 'Yeah, we're not going to do that again.' "

TURN's threat to try to decide the future of the state's electricity market in the voting booth came after a news conference on the statehouse steps aimed at increasing pressure on Schwarzenegger to support a bill by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles).

Nuñez's bill, AB 2006, represents the first major attempt by lawmakers to revamp California's electricity generation, transmission and marketing system since a 1996 deregulation law led to rolling blackouts and spiking prices in 2000 and 2001.<snip>