California officials rebuffed requests for information, GAO says

By the OGJ Online Staff

HOUSTON, July 16 -- In a letter released Monday, the US General Accounting Office said California state officials ignored repeated requests earlier this year for detailed information about the electricity situation the agency needed for developing a report to congress.

The report was to be prepared at the request of Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations. GAO is a nonpartisan investigative arm of the congress.

During the course of its work, the agency said it was unable to obtain information it sought and thus wasn't able to assess the summer 2001 outlook in California, despite meetings with officials from Democrat Gov. Gray Davis's office, the California Independent System Operator, the California Energy Commission, and the California Public Utilities Commission.

Assessments by various organizations that ranged from a surplus of 10,000 Mw to shortages of 5,500 Mw could not be reconciled, the GAO said. Although the agency reported it made "numerous" requests to the state for an update to a November assessment, state officials did not provide one.

The GAO said it encountered similar problems trying to get information on conservation programs, rate hikes, electricity imports, and purchased power contracts.

California Gov. Gray Davis reported consumers had cut electricity demand 10%, but the state didn't provide information on various state conservations programs, despite "numerous requests." The GAO also attempted to determine the likely impact of an electricity rate hike on demand, "but the PUC was not able to provide information on how rates would increase for various customers in California because the issue had not yet been resolved," it said.

The California ISO rebuffed the GAO's efforts to obtain details of plant outages and the governor's staff rebuffed its attempts to learn more about contracts signed by the state with power suppliers to serve the summer load.

Despite assurances of confidentiality, the officials feared if the information were made public it could jeopardize future negotiations. Most of the contract information has since been released to the public.

The general information obtained by the GAO was "inadequate to allow us to draw our own conclusions" regarding how individual supply and demand factors would affect the California electricity market.

In a competitive market, the GAO said, such details may become increasingly difficult to obtain.

"This comes at a time when electricity markets are evolving in such a way that the effects of the California electricity situation may have far-reaching implications for companies, organizations, and people far outside the state's borders," the agency said.