The Sacramento Bee published a new article on this topic 12 minutes after I posted the above message. The article does a very good job answering some of your questions, Grishny. Basically, it all goes back to deregulation. If you're still interested, I would recommend that you read the whole article, but here are the most interesting paragraphs.

"Under a 1996 law, California's investor-owned monopoly utilities began a gradual transition to deregulation. The companies were required to sell off their power-generating assets, such as dams and power plants, and purchase electricity on the open market.

"Concerned about deregulation, power plant builders shunned California and no new power plants were developed for a decade, leaving supplies stagnant. Several new plants are under construction now -- eight have been licensed since 1998 -- but the soonest they will begin operation is next summer. State officials believe costs will ease as that new energy becomes available."

Deregulation *seems* like a good idea, but it doesn't seem to live up to the expectations. Similarly, we are now starting to see the results of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed various forms of media to converge. We all know that Disney bought ABC, but take this other example: AT&T was once a telephone company, but they recently acquired one of the major cable companies in the U.S. This means that they now offer both land-line and wireless telephone service, cable television service and dial-up and cable internet services. It becomes even more interesting when you consider how much each of these companies know about you. If they wanted to, they could research to find out what you watch on TV, who you call and where you go on the Internet. Interesting, huh?

Ell"Off on a tangent"myruh