Wendy Sherman: “The answer is simple and long in coming. The answer is established by Federal law and ignored by a Federal regulatory…”

“The answer is simple and long in coming. The answer is established by Federal law and ignored by a Federal regulatory agency. Our law says that the price being charged by wholesale generators, those who bought the plants from our local utilities and are operating them, chiefly big companies based in Texas, that they should only charge fair and reasonable rates. And the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, is there to make sure that they only charge reasonable rates. Well, California has been FERC'd. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission refuses to do its job. So we here in Congress need to force them to do their job. Alternatively, it would be just as good if we simply allowed California to do the job. It really is a multi-state market, but most of the plants that supply California are in California. Some might say, well, why can California not solve the problem by imposing fair, regulated price on these plants located in our State? The power of the Federal Government through preemption stands on our neck and watches our pockets being picked.”