Possible Messages on Legislation in California

Here's an attempt at being frank about the legislation without jeopardizing
our relationships or commercial prospects.

Overall, we respect the effort, but California failed to get the ball over
the goal line:

On Siting
Intentionally or not, California has designed power plant siting laws that
make it excruciatingly difficult to construct power plants in the state.
Folks seem to have lost sight of the need to balance growth and environmental
quality in California.
That's why nothing's been built in the state for a decade and developers are
going outside the state to build power plants.
Tinkering around the edges won't help; and (with all due respect) the
legislation passed yesterday tinkers.
Real reform is required if California hopes to build the supply necessary to
keep pace with Silicon Valley and a high tech culture and tame the price
spikes.
If developers continue to have to navigate through a maze of a half a
dozen--or more--state and local agencies, California's supply problems will
continue, or worsen.
California needs real, one-stop shopping and it needs it now.

On the retail price cap
They don't work (we've already developed all the arguments, so I won't repeat
them hear)
The press has already reported that the measure the Legislature passed simply
puts off the day of reckoning.
It's like using your credit card--eventually they're going to knock on your
door to collect.
Now, families and businesses will have a hard time managing their budgets
because they can't gauge the size of the balloon payment they'll face a
couple of years down the road.
So San Diegans who continue to take service from SDG&E will pay the same
amount, but the cap will remove the powerful incentive prices create to use
electricity wisely.
There's a better answer:
Instead of urging consumers not to switch, encourage customers to sign with
another retail provider.
Clearly, the biggest mistake California made was The press and decision
makers should spend more time talking to folks who signed fixed price deals
with companies like Enron. But for the press reports, they hardly know
there's a crisis.