WASHINGTON (AP) -- This summer could see a repeat of power outages if reliability problems in a rapidly changing electricity industry are not addressed, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson warned.
Addressing a group of mayors and local officials on Monday, Richardson urged that they help persuade Congress to enact legislation that would require mandatory reliability standards for wholesale power producers."While demand for electricity is soaring, the reliability of our electric grid is at times faltering, mainly because policymakers haven't kept pace with rapid changes in the electric utility industry," Richardson said.
He released an Energy Department report that concluded the transition to electricity competition has strained transmission and distribution lines and caused some utilities to focus on competing for markets, cutting costs and maximizing prices instead of assuring that power is kept flowing.
A draft of the report, including its key findings, was made public as an interim document in January.
But Richardson, speaking to the National League of Cities, used the analysis to reiterate his call for legislation governing the new, more competitive electricity industry or risk "more long, hot summers of outages in America's cities."
For several years, lawmakers have been trying to craft legislation that would establish a national program of electricity industry deregulation, ending the historic monopolies utilities have had in their local service areas.
Twenty-four states already are well along to a competitive electricity market, and in some states such as California and Pennsylvania people can choose their electricity supplier, although the actual power still comes over the same local distribution systems.
But a national electricity deregulation bill has been stymied by disagreements in the $200 billion electric power industry and opposition where electricity already is cheap.