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Enron Mail |
=09 =20 Register now for the PMA OnLine Power Report! This is a free news service.= =09 =09 =09 California Regulators Claim Structural Separation Action Caused Electrical = Distribution Debacle-Same Problems Will Happen in Florida If Bellsouth Is B= roken Up Into Wholesale & Retail Companies Business Wire ( July 31, 2001 ) = =09 TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Jul 31, 2001 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- A former member of the C= alifornia Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and his former chief of staff t= estified today that the electric energy crisis plaguing their state can be = directly traced back to structural separation actions the Commission took y= ears earlier. During day two of a Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) s= tructural separation workshop they warned that granting the AT&T request to= break up BellSouth into wholesale and retail companies would be leading Fl= orida consumers down that same path. G. Mitchell Wilk and Carl Danner told = the PSC today that the California Commission's concerns about possible util= ity generation market power led it to force utilities to sell off fossil fu= el generating plants. This action ultimately resulted in rolling black outs= and forced utilities and ultimately the State to buy that power back at hi= gher prices. "Florida can learn through California's mistakes. A breakup wi= ll intensify a contradiction between cost-based wholesale prices and subsid= ized retail rates. Since retail processes must follow wholesale costs, a br= eakup will accelerate an end to forced subsidies," said former PUC Commissi= oner Wilk. "The costs of the breakup are large and will affect all customer= s. By contrast, the alleged benefits are entirely speculative, and have bee= n forcefully disputed." Danner also told Florida Commissioners that a break= up would be costly and difficult to reverse. "The public wants convenience = and simplicity, but will get more confusion, complexity and cost," said Dan= ner. "Competitors will see this as one more means to use the regulatory pro= cess against one another by trying to plunge the PSC into micro-management.= All this new industry cost will be paid for by consumers and will subtract= from Florida's economy." Wilk added that a true debacle in what is now an = efficient and evolving telecommunications network might occur through struc= tural separation actions. "California failed by seeking to deregulate elect= ricity generation, while using a highly-regulatory approach to do so," said= Wilk. "The breakup proposal here in Florida would attempt the same by adop= ting highly intrusive regulation, at a time when there is robust competitio= n in the state. It would be economically counterproductive for the consumer= s and impede on the evolution of technology in Florida." CONTACT: BellSouth= =09
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