California Rides the Tiger
Revolutions rarely succeed without a struggle. At the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the move to restructure the state's electric utility industry is no exception. The stakes are enormous. For starters, annual revenues at the state's investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs) exceed $18 billion, making up
2 percent of California's gross state product. Competitively priced electricity is vital to California's $800-billion-a-year economy, one would think.