Model for Energy Restructuring: Future or Past?

Sacramento Bee Columnist Dan Weintraub examines the debate over energy restructuring in California:

Democratic lawmakers are ignoring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal for a more flexible, decentralized electricity system that would be more open to innovation. Instead, they're pushing to vest as much control as possible in the monopoly utilities of yesteryear. Some even want to return to a completely regulated, state-controlled system.

It's a battle between the past and the future, and so far, the past is winning. Burned by a failed, 1990s experiment in what was called deregulation but in truth was bad regulation, the Democrats who control the Legislature are reluctant to leave the security blanket provided by the big utility. Like the last defenders of Ma Bell and the old telephone monopolies, they prefer stable, slow and expensive over even a little bit of experimentation with what they perceive to be a risky business.

California is not knows as being a State where people "play it safe". Innovation is a hallmark of the Golden State. Whether that remains true for the energy industry, however, remains to be seen.