Electricity blame-game

The Economist takes a look at this summer’s power problems in the United States and concludes that the blackouts in California, St. Louis and New York may involve more than increased demand due to the hot weather. What appears to be at play is a breakdown of the nation’s entire electricity supply. On California:

The state's powerful NIMBY tendency has long ensured that it is undersupplied with electricity; and a botched deregulation, exacerbated by the antics of Enron, played a huge part in the downfall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003. Back then, as temperatures soared, controlled local power cuts were used to stop the whole system failing. The present governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has ordered state agencies to reduce electricity use by 25% by turning off non-essential equipment. The Gubernator has made some progress with the state's energy problems, piloting a “smart-meter” scheme in northern California that could help control demand during supply crunches and may become a model for the nation.

Last week, something called the North American Electric Reliability Council, an industry self-regulatory body, became responsible for enforcing reliability standards. Supposedly, it can issue fines to utilities that fail to pass muster. We’ll see.