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Link: http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006605080325
Text:
By DENNIS SPIVACK
05/08/2006
"Time for a Change" announced a News Journal editorial on March 17, 1999.
Effectively, this was an endorsement of the electric deregulation legislation then pending in the State Legislature.
Seven years later, as the full impact of the legislation looms, it's time to question the wisdom of that decision.
I have reached this conclusion after listening to a Delmarva Power representative try to justify the upcoming rate hikes at a recent public presentation in the Mill Creek Fire Hall.
My concern goes well beyond that of a private citizen who will fall victim to increases that range from about 60 percent (residential) to 100 percent (small businesses) -- or even as much as 120 percent (large companies). As a recently announced candidate for the U.S. Congress, I feel compelled to speak out for all the Delaware residents whose concerns are repeatedly ignored.
"Time for a Change" sounds superficial in the light of current circumstances.
Based on my own assessment of the facts, I'd say it's time for a federal investigation.
Although Delmarva asserts that the electric industry is currently much more competitive than it was back in 1999, when the subject of deregulation was first introduced, the basis for that assertion is not entirely clear.
This industry is both complicated and confusing, and not just because it is composed of many layers.
The larger problem is an absence of complete, across-the-board transparency.
The presentation at Mill Creek made that fact very clear, yet no reason was given to explain this lack of transparency.
In 1999, Delmarva conducted intensive public relations and lobbying efforts citing the benefits of deregulation to Delaware customers.
The underlying assumption was that a monopoly would be replaced by competition with regard to the generation and supply of electricity.
But without the means to examine all levels of the electric-industry sector it is impossible to determine whether you and I, the consumers, are about to become victims of price gouging.
The Delmarva representative also attributed a portion of the proposed spike in electric prices to the "natural chaos" which follows any transition from a regulated to a non-regulated market.
Given the fact that Delmarva has had more than seven years to prepare for the transition, this sounds like hollow reasoning.
If "chaos" still exists, shouldn't the costs associated with addressing this transition be borne by Delmarva?
Or, even more to the point, shouldn't the date when the transition is to become effective be postponed until the "chaos" is resolved?
What promises to become a crisis as of May 1, when regulations are lifted, is just the most recent example of a situation that puts every resident of this state in the vise grip of high-level mismanagement.
If higher electric rates go into effect, Delaware residents struggling to maintain a minimal standard of living could suffer enormously.
The rest of us will feel the pinch if not the poverty.
It is clear to me that a federal investigation is urgently needed and immediately necessary.
And so I have joined others in requesting that investigation to determine if further federal action is warranted.
How else can we be reassured that the people of Delaware are not confronting a situation similar to the one faced by Californians three years ago, when energy providers basically manipulated an energy crisis to keep prices and profits artificially high?
At a time when so many other politicians are deafeningly silent, I intend to voice my concerns for Delaware residents loud and clear.
Dennis Spivack, a Democrat, is a 2006 congressional candidate. A transactional attorney, he is a senior partner at Morris James in Delaware.
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