Vikram S. Budhraja
Vice President of Planning and Technology
Southern California Edison Co.
The transition to a competitive generation marketplace is underway. Customers want choices, flexibility, and competitive prices. Producers want open nondiscriminatory access to markets. Regulators want a smooth transition to the new system based on competitive efficiency, not cost-avoidance or cost-shifting among customer groups. And policymakers want a system that protects consumers without sacrificing environmental and energy policy objectives.
In the restructuring debate, our company has proposed formation of a regional power pool (em PoolCo (em as the fastest and straightest path to a fully competitive energy marketplace, in which all customers will enjoy the benefits of greater choice and competition. PoolCo separates financial transactions from power system operations. Financial transactions are handled through individual (em and confidential (em bilateral contracts that are unregulated, while the essential functions of control, coordination, regulation, and dispatch of the power system are performed by an independent regional PoolCo.