- California Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday signed emergency legislation to cut 
electricity rates in San Diego where a tripling in customers' bills this 
summer has sparked a public outcry. 


Enron Corp. (ENE) executives Wednesday called for swift federal action to 
reform the U.S. wholesale power market and avert chronic power-supply 
problems nationally, such as the high-profile woes that plagued the 
California electricity market this summer. 



California Utilities Reap Huge Profits Amid Record-High Energy Bills 



In the seemingly long-ago 1990s, when California had electrons to spare and 
energy was the last issue on most people's minds, San Diego Gas & Electric 
tried to expand a 700-megawatt power plant in Chula Vista--and met with stony 
indifference from local government types. 
The attitude bespoke the not-in-my-backyard opposition that such projects 
typically have faced around the state. SDG&E shelved the plan. 
But the current is flowing the other way now: The state is in the midst of an 
electricity crisis, and the San Diego bedroom community is urging the plant's 
new operator not just to keep the facility running but, indeed, to make it 
bigger.