Letter: Deregulate power market

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001 | 9:22 a.m.

Davis is incorrect. Governments are good at pointing fingers, not producing power -- though they are eager at assuming power. Davis, irresponsibly looking for a scapegoat, doesn't point to onerous state regulatory commissions.

He has, for example, attempted to pin the blame for California's power woes on deregulation instead of the state's strict pollution regulations. Yet the most "damaging electrical regulations," as a Cato Institute analysis puts it, "emanate from state public utility commissions that restrict entry and set rates."

Deregulation may be a punching bag, but, as Investor's Business Daily notes, that blame is "misplaced." The real culprit, says IBD, "is not what's been deregulated ... it's what has not been deregulated -- the distribution market. A government body still controls who gets power around the state and the neighborhood."

The response has been rationing -- which is a long-term formula for shortages and higher prices.

FRANK PELTESON

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