[Superman]

Interesting. I had heard that some energy corporations shut down generating plants for the purpose of reducing supply.

I have been in the public works industry for fifteen years, and I have asked many people in the electric power industry over many years to steer me in the direction of any materials that might explain to me how electric power deregulation might be in the consumer's best interest. Some of you guys seem to be plugged in (pun intended), so my question now goes to you. If I get something, it will be the first thing I have ever received.

Here in Washington State, we have substantial power generation facilities. I think Grant County PUD is something like the second largest non-federal power generating organization in the country, for example. And of course we have Grand Coulee Dam here. FWIW, I stood in a room there with six 60-foot generators and asked "how much electricity is this 800 mw that each of these generators produces?" The Siemens guy said one can power a city like Seattle or Portland. To power a city like Los Angeles would take two. Again, there are six in that room and Grand Coulee has at least one other powerhouse.

Here is the deal. For the most part, the we taxpayers have built these facilities. We're certainly not going to be erecting any more dams in the future. There's even talk of breaching some. Anyway, we built them and we own them still. And we built the transmission systems that move this power across large distances. And once transported, in many cases we also built the distribution systems that provide this power to peoples' homes. So, if I own the dam, the transmission lines, the distribution lines, the transformers, etc.....why would I want to sell this power to someone so they can add profits and sell it back to me?

And here's another consideration. In Washington State we also have some aluminum plants. They use a COLLOSAL amount of power, and we have good, relatively cheap hydro power. When (notice I did not say "if") electric power is deregulated (sold to private companies to resell to me and to industrial concerns) what do you think those private companies are going to do? I mean, whatever private company winds up landing the "Alcoa" or "Reynolds" accounts is going to make a lot of money. There will be intense competition for those accounts. So, there will be a price war and those companies (Alcoa and Reynolds) will become the beneficiary of "deregulation." So, if someone cuts these companies a super deal, and if profits now need to be added to the overall price structure, what is going to happen to my residential power bill?