This article, published today, is fascinating (albeit very dense) reading. The author does not do a good job of explaining congestion pricing or the revenue device involved, but it sounds like a futures contract for a commodity. This issue plays directly into Mex's comments about the inefficiencies in the Calif. grid system:
Energy speculators profit off of congested transmission lines, says the LA Times, not some conspiracy theoristThis article will require a strong cup of coffee -- very hard to follow, but it is a big deal.
Aside from one's involuntary admiration for the speculator who figured out how to game the system, this article causes me to repeat Napoleon's maxim: Never attribute to conspiracy that which can be explained by incompetence. The Cal-ISO folks did not really understand what they were getting themselves into. They are not master-minds. They are muddling along.
And I would add to Phil's observations -- as much as we like to whine about Calif., we are still here. We eat three meals a day on our patio, no screen room, for most of the year, no bugs. I drive a few minutes to an excellent surf break, at least once a week. Those two "lifestyle enhancements" are really valuable to me, despite all of the other frustrations of urban living.
But I do miss the seasons, and I miss seeing the Milky Way, except when we head out to the Sierras.
