Re: Energy deregulation GATS
It seems to me that Governor Gray Davis has a easy solution to the current energy crunch, which seems to have shut pen-l down for awhile: he could allow electricity retail prices to rise, while allowing California consumers to write off electricity costs on their state income taxes this year. (The latter is possible because the state government is running a budget surplus.) This is not the best solution, but it would work, perhaps to give breathing room to allow a better solution. Gene, what do you think? At 05:49 PM 1/22/01 -0800, you wrote: The Globe and Mail January 22, 2001 U.S. touts California-style power plan By Barrie McKenna SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. government is pushing California- style power deregulation on the rest of the world even as the state's controversial electricity free market experiment continues to unravel at home. Just weeks before Californians were hit with the first power blackouts since the Second World War, the United States was quietly lobbying in Geneva to convince Canada and other U.S. trading partners that electricity deregulation should be an integral part of a proposed free trade in services deal. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
RE: Re: Energy deregulation GATS
problem is a lot of folks pay little or no income tax but still pay utility bills. mbs It seems to me that Governor Gray Davis has a easy solution to the current energy crunch, which seems to have shut pen-l down for awhile: he could allow electricity retail prices to rise, while allowing California consumers to write off electricity costs on their state income taxes this year. (The latter is possible because the state government is running a budget surplus.) This is not the best solution, but it would work, perhaps to give breathing room to allow a better solution. Gene, what do you think? At 05:49 PM 1/22/01 -0800, you wrote: The Globe and Mail January 22, 2001 U.S. touts California-style power plan By Barrie McKenna SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. government is pushing California- style power deregulation on the rest of the world even as the state's controversial electricity free market experiment continues to unravel at home. Just weeks before Californians were hit with the first power blackouts since the Second World War, the United States was quietly lobbying in Geneva to convince Canada and other U.S. trading partners that electricity deregulation should be an integral part of a proposed free trade in services deal. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Re: RE: Re: Energy deregulation GATS
then, make it a refundable tax credit, or lower the state sales tax further. At 11:55 AM 1/23/01 -0500, you wrote: problem is a lot of folks pay little or no income tax but still pay utility bills. mbs It seems to me that Governor Gray Davis has a easy solution to the current energy crunch, which seems to have shut pen-l down for awhile: he could allow electricity retail prices to rise, while allowing California consumers to write off electricity costs on their state income taxes this year. (The latter is possible because the state government is running a budget surplus.) This is not the best solution, but it would work, perhaps to give breathing room to allow a better solution. Gene, what do you think? At 05:49 PM 1/22/01 -0800, you wrote: The Globe and Mail January 22, 2001 U.S. touts California-style power plan By Barrie McKenna SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. government is pushing California- style power deregulation on the rest of the world even as the state's controversial electricity free market experiment continues to unravel at home. Just weeks before Californians were hit with the first power blackouts since the Second World War, the United States was quietly lobbying in Geneva to convince Canada and other U.S. trading partners that electricity deregulation should be an integral part of a proposed free trade in services deal. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Re: Re: RE: Re: Energy deregulation GATS
Just quickly: Jim, are you proposing to funnel public money to the utilities by them charging customers higher prices and then the customers get re-imbursed out of the state treasury? Utilities get more money, customers come out even, but taxpayers pay? Not very appealing to me. For twenty-five years we've had national and states giving money to low income people to offset the utility bills. I've never like that, either. Just keeps the political temperature down while paying utilities top dollar, doesn't it? Gene Jim Devine wrote: then, make it a refundable tax credit, or lower the state sales tax further. At 11:55 AM 1/23/01 -0500, you wrote: problem is a lot of folks pay little or no income tax but still pay utility bills. mbs It seems to me that Governor Gray Davis has a easy solution to the current energy crunch, which seems to have shut pen-l down for awhile: he could allow electricity retail prices to rise, while allowing California consumers to write off electricity costs on their state income taxes this year. (The latter is possible because the state government is running a budget surplus.) This is not the best solution, but it would work, perhaps to give breathing room to allow a better solution. Gene, what do you think? At 05:49 PM 1/22/01 -0800, you wrote: The Globe and Mail January 22, 2001 U.S. touts California-style power plan By Barrie McKenna SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. government is pushing California- style power deregulation on the rest of the world even as the state's controversial electricity free market experiment continues to unravel at home. Just weeks before Californians were hit with the first power blackouts since the Second World War, the United States was quietly lobbying in Geneva to convince Canada and other U.S. trading partners that electricity deregulation should be an integral part of a proposed free trade in services deal. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Re: Re: Energy deregulation GATS
The tax write off answer is better than no solution at all, but there are two problems: 1. It doesn't address the basic issues -- deregulation has caused shortages and rampant energy price inflation. 2. It assumes that consumer will have enough money to pay quickly escalating costs and then wait a year to ge their money back. For the poor, especially the elderly on fixed incomes, this may not be true. maggie coleman Jim Devine wrote: It seems to me that Governor Gray Davis has a easy solution to the current energy crunch, which seems to have shut pen-l down for awhile: he could allow electricity retail prices to rise, while allowing California consumers to write off electricity costs on their state income taxes this year. (The latter is possible because the state government is running a budget surplus.) This is not the best solution, but it would work, perhaps to give breathing room to allow a better solution. Gene, what do you think? At 05:49 PM 1/22/01 -0800, you wrote: The Globe and Mail January 22, 2001 U.S. touts California-style power plan By Barrie McKenna SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. government is pushing California- style power deregulation on the rest of the world even as the state's controversial electricity free market experiment continues to unravel at home. Just weeks before Californians were hit with the first power blackouts since the Second World War, the United States was quietly lobbying in Geneva to convince Canada and other U.S. trading partners that electricity deregulation should be an integral part of a proposed free trade in services deal. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Energy deregulation GATS
The Globe and Mail January 22, 2001 U.S. touts California-style power plan By Barrie McKenna SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. government is pushing California- style power deregulation on the rest of the world even as the state's controversial electricity free market experiment continues to unravel at home. Just weeks before Californians were hit with the first power blackouts since the Second World War, the United States was quietly lobbying in Geneva to convince Canada and other U.S. trading partners that electricity deregulation should be an integral part of a proposed free trade in services deal. Negotiators at the World Trade Organization are currently working on a General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, aimed at cutting barriers on billions of dollars worth of trade. The United States has pushed hard to include energy -- once treated as a good -- in the services agreement. And in a negotiating position filed last month in Geneva, U.S. trade officials went further, proposing that the deal be subject to a regulatory test that is similar to the guiding principles behind California's electricity deregulation law. Among other features, the United States wants global regulatory guidelines requiring "non-discriminatory third-party access to and interconnection with energy networks and grids, where they are dominated by government entities or dominant suppliers," according to documents released by the WTO. But some critics said that if WTO members embrace the U.S. plan, California and other jurisdictions around the world would have a hard time stopping -- let alone rolling back the clock on -- deregulation. "In the kind of proposals the [United States] is advocating at the GATS negotiations, a number of the options California is currently considering -- including the creation of a new public utility -- to resolve its energy crisis would likely constitute a violation of the GATS," argued Ellen Gould, a Vancouver researcher who advises labour unions on the impact of the WTO. Again yesterday, California was operating under a Stage 3 power emergency due to low power supplies. But no new mandatory blackouts have been ordered since last Thursday when the lights went out for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in northern and central California. Governor Gray Davis worked through the weekend to find a long-term solution to the crisis. Ms. Gould said California's continuing struggles to fix its five- year-old deregulation regime should be a cautionary tale for all WTO members, including Canada. "Compelling utilities to open up their energy grids to competitors is what the U.S. trade representative wants enforced worldwide," she explained. Former U.S. trade representative Charlene Barshefsky, the top U.S. trade official, left the job on Saturday along with the rest of ex- president Bill Clinton's administration. The incoming administration of President George W. Bush, a Republican and former Texas oil man, is expected to be even more enthusiastic about energy deregulation. Last week, Mr. Bush said he wants to name a special envoy to work out an as-yet-undefined North American energy policy with Canada and Mexico. Mr. Bush has also taken a dim view of price controls as a solution to the crisis. The United States is already actively enforcing similar regulatory guidelines following a 1999 WTO telecommunications accord, Ms. Gould said. Canada -- the largest energy exporter to the United States -- also wants energy included in any WTO services deal. It's unclear where Ottawa stands on the U.S. regulatory guidelines. Michael Kergin, Canadian ambassador to Washington, recently welcomed Mr. Bush's overtures on creating a North American energy policy. He has noted that it might be an opportunity to review any remaining regulatory restrictions that Canadian energy producers face selling into the U.S. market. But regulators, politicians and consumers in Canada and across the United States have watched in horror in recent weeks as the power grid in California -- the most populous and one of the richest U.S. states -- has come close to collapse. In Alberta and elsewhere, governments are having second thoughts about opening up their electricity markets to competition. Last week, emergency electricity purchases from Canada, backed by the credit of the California treasury, helped the state turn the lights back on after two days of rotating blackouts. Under California's widely copied 1996 deregulation law, the state created a competitive electricity wholesale market, but capped what costs the utilities could pass on to consumers. Utilities were also forced to separate their generating business from their retail and transmission operations. As energy prices soared last year, California's
