Nightline: A Matter of Supply and Demand

Dec. 20 -- For Nora Whitcotton, the power crisis in California is a matter of life and death. She suffers from lung disease, and she relies on an electric oxygen machine 24 hours a day.

“This is something I have to have,” says Whitcotton. “This is nothing that I can shop a sale or cut back on.”

For a 63-year-old widow on a fixed income, like Whitcotton, the rules of the free-market economy are harsh ones. She understands that if you have to have it, you have to pay the price. Whitcotton and her 2.5 million neighbors in greater San Diego have been paying radically greater power prices since this summer.

During the dog days of August, the power company called Whitcotton to warn of the possibility of rolling blackouts. The company representative suggested she get bottled oxygen to hold her over. But with the thermometer inching over the 100-degree mark, Whitcotton was worried about not having air conditioning. The representative told her to “just call 911” if there was a problem.

The Energy Crunch

Individuals and businesses alike are feeling the energy crunch, and they hoped to get some relief in the cooler winter months. But it looks as if even higher rates may loom ahead. Many San Diego area residents blame it on deregulation.

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Like many states, California has opened its utilities to free-market competition, hoping to provide consumers with more services and lower rates. In San Diego, since this summer, it’s been more or less the same service, but at far higher prices.

Michael Shames, former director of the Utility Consumers’ Action Network, says in the past, regulators set rates based on what it cost to produce electricity, plus a profit margin that was also set by the regulators.

“The big change now is the generators of power can charge whatever they want,” says Shames. “There is no limit.”

Under the old system, San Diego Gas and Electric both generated and delivered its own power. But with deregulation, it has had to sell off its generating plants and buy power on the free market from energy wholesalers.