Power crunch spotlights deregulation turmoil

[cal04]

A report that the nation faces more frequent power outages comes just as a decades-long debate over industry deregulation heats up — and shows no signs of resolution.

With roughly half the states stuck midway in a long-term experiment in rate deregulation, consumers in many of those states now face big rate increases next year as rate caps expire. And with billions of dollars of additional investment needed to keep the power grid humming, it’s not at all clear where that money is going to come from.

Until new power plants and transmission lines can be deployed, the reliability of the nation’s power grid will likely get worse before it gets better, according to the North American Electric Reliability Council, which oversees North America's power grid. In a report issued Monday, the group said that a looming power supply crunch will likely worsen over the next decade as power demand outstrips new capacity.

The impact will be felt unevenly but will be widespread, the report said. In the next two to three years, surplus capacity needed to keep the lights on in Texas, New England, the mid-Atlantic, the Midwest and the Rocky Mountain regions will drop to levels that make brownouts and blackouts more likely.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15292581/

[conscious evolution]

1. Don't believe this article

More enron type games are behind it.