More Proof that Deregulation is Dead
Santa Monica — Today’s announcement that Dynegy Inc. is withdrawing from the energy trading market is definitive evidence that energy deregulation does not work, according to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR).
“Now Dynegy is joining Enron and other companies as proof that deregulation has failed,” said FTCR’s senior consumer advocate Doug Heller, . “The energy companies’ unacceptable ultimatum is that either they are allowed to manipulate the marketplace or they won’t participate at all. Clearly consumers are better off without an unregulated electricity market. ”
Dynegy, along with Enron, was one of the chief members of the energy cartel which helped create the supposed energy crisis in California. That crisis led to rolling blackouts and cost the state up to $70 million. (In January of 2002 FTCR authored the 57-page report HOAX: How Deregulation Let the Power Industry Steal $71 Billion From California, available at consumerwatchdog.org). Dynegy announced today that they are shutting down their energy trading business, as well as predicting layoffs and restructuring to deal with the company’s losses in the weak energy market.
“Electricity is too vital to public safety and the economy to leave it in the hands of unregulated companies,” Heller said. “The energy crisis, the Enron disaster, and the inability of companies to stay in the market is all the evidence we need that deregulation is dead.”
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