Energy

State Utilities Left With Burden of Reclaiming Costs From Crisis

November 3, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Issue will remain unsettled until next year when a new agreement is reached and flaws in deregulation are fixed</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>The $6-billion wrecking ball that is waiting to slam either California consumers or the utility industry is back in the control of state officials after a federal commission this week failed to even address the problem.</p>

U.S. Urges Major Fixes For State’s Power Market

November 2, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Federal Panel Says Electricity Crisis Is Product Of Flaws In Deregulation, But It Stops Short Of Ordering Reductions In Sky-High Prices</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>California's electricity crisis is the product of flaws in the deregulated market and a long-term shortage of power in the state, federal regulators said Wednesday, proposing sweeping changes to fix the $ 23-billion electricity trade.</p>

U.S Nudges State Over Energy Prices

November 2, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Changes proposed in deregulation plan</h3><p class="source">San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>However, consumer groups dismissed these moves as a ``whitewash.'' They lashed out at the commission for not ordering ratepayer refunds despite regulators concluding that California electricity costs are ``unjust and unreasonable.''</p>

Feds say power companies overcharged but won’t order refunds

November 2, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">San Jose Mercury News</p> <p>SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Federal regulators Wednesday said California's electricity rates last summer were "unjust and unreasonable" but found no grounds to order refunds in a much-anticipated report that left many in the state disappointed. State leaders, ut</p>

Feds say power companies overcharged but won’t order refunds

November 2, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">San Jose Mercury News</p> <p>Federal regulators Wednesday said California's electricity rates last summer were "unjust and unreasonable" but found no grounds to order refunds in a much-anticipated report that left many in the state disappointed.</p>

Edison, Consumer Advocates Disagree On Rate Plan

October 27, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Electricity: At Hearing Today, The Utilities Are Expected To Push For An End To The Freeze, While Aiming For A 10% Increase</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Southern California Edison executives said Thursday that their proposal to boost electricity rates would increase a typical residential bill by about $ 5.50 a month. But consumer advocates viewed the matter differently,</p>

Who’ll pay $5.1 billion electric bill?

October 23, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>UTILITIES: Deregulation and soaring costs have created a politically charged dilemma.</h3><p class="source">Orange County Register</p> <p>Customers of the state's two largest power companies will soon learn whether they'll have to pay a $5.1 billion electric bill.</p>

Oil Sent Out of Midwest on Purpose, Study Says

October 19, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Chicago Sun-Times</p> <p>The oil industry intentionally sent reserves out of the Midwest and exported other supplies to foreign countries earlier this year to artificially create shortages, a new study asserts.</p>

Oil Companies Created Midwest Gap, Group Says

October 19, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Chicago Tribune</p> <p>A California-based consumer watchdog group on Wednesday accused the major oil companies of creating a gasoline shortage that sent prices soaring to more than $2 a gallon in Chicago and Milwaukee by shipping inventories to other states and abroad.</p>

Report Accuses Oil Companies of Cutting Inventory

October 18, 2000  ·  Jamie Court

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>A nonprofit consumer rights organization released a study Wednesday accusing oil companies of intentionally sending reserves out of the Midwest to create shortages that sent prices higher than $2 a gallon in some parts of the region last summer.</p>

Gas Hikes Could Become Annual Event

October 18, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">United Press International</p> <p>A consumer group sympathetic to environmental interests said Wednesday the gasoline price hikes of the summer of 2000 could become an annual event unless the federal government intervenes.</p>

Watchdog Group Goes After PUC Commissioner Duque

October 5, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>A government watchdog group launched a legal maneuver yesterday to oust one of the state's five utility commissioners because he invested nearly $10,000 in a mobile-phone company his agency regulates.</p>