President Bush allowed a two-week extension on the federal order that requires neighboring states to sell their surplus energy to Californias utilities, however, the mandate will not be renewed indefinitely as it was under the Clinton administration. Some of the neighboring states have voiced opposition to the order, arguing that California might soon deplete power supplies in other states as well.
California state officials and energy leaders are still trying to find both short-term and long-term solutions to Californias energy crisis, while avoiding the politically unpopular rate hikes. Negotiating long-term energy contracts will be central to this task, although officials in Washington say that rate hikes will be inevitable. A controversial plan would increase the rate that large, commercial users pay for energy before passing on the hike to individual consumers. Businesses and lobbyists say this would be too detrimental to the states suffering economy and would cause economic problems to spread quickly to the rest of the nation.
Out-of-state power suppliers have been invited to submit bids to California for long-term energy contracts, however it is unclear whether the states utilities will be able afford the terms. Californias legislature recently approved $400 million to purchase power for the short-term, but as long as utilities are unsure of their power supply on a day-to-day basis, the rolling blackouts will continue.
Based on reports from The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.
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