Bob Filner: “I rise tonight to tell my colleagues about a tragic situation going on in San Diego, California. Like all of my…”

“I rise tonight to tell my colleagues about a tragic situation going on in San Diego, California. Like all of my colleagues, I went home at the beginning of August for a work period in our district, but what I found in San Diego was a disaster, and not a natural disaster but a man-made disaster, a disaster made by a few companies who are willing to put the whole quality of life of San Diegoans at risk for their own profit; a disaster that did not affect only a few people, but affected all of the residents of San Diego County, 2/2 million people. What was the basis of this disaster? San Diego is the first area in California to fully deregulate the electrical utility industry, to fully deregulate, which means that San Diegans pay the market price for electricity. The market price is determined by the few generators of electricity who control the power grid into San Diego. So what was the result of this deregulation, a deregulation which was supposed to bring competition and lower the cost? It doubled and then tripled the cost of electricity in just 3 months.”