This
power shortage was not a result of deregulation.
It is a result of the failure to deregulate.
Population and industry have been booming in California for decades.
No new power plants have been built there for more than 10 years, mostly because of the environmentally minded Californian population. NOT because of something the New York Times said. If the California power industry had it's way, it'd be selling _lots_ of power for a lower price. That's how businesses work.
That means we have a rising demand and a constant supply. Let's see, any economics majors in the house?
Prices hit the ceiling, and then keep going up. And yet the companies still go out of business. People are _still_ accusing them of blind greed, even when they run at a loss, all the way into the ground, and finally go bankrupt as several are about to.
Lesson? Any time and every time the government sticks it's nose in the economy, things turn sour to the extent the economy is fucked with. Think 1929. The California power industry has been fucked with for decades. They're paying that price now.