20 Years After Enron and Rolling Blackouts, What Have We Learned?

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2021

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Twenty years ago, California went dark. Without enough electricity to power the state, rolling blackouts shut down businesses, PG&E filed for bankruptcy, the state’s economy contracted and then-Governor Gray Davis’ administration spiraled into crisis. Part of the blame rested with Enron Corporation, an energy company whose brokers created an artificial electricity shortage by taking power plants offline — thereby raising prices by 800% or more. Enron ultimately unravelled when whistleblowers revealed its books were cooked, but not before the company severely damaged energy markets. Two decades later, Forum asks what we’ve learned from that calamity— and whether our electricity supply is safe from market manipulation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:36.0	Thank you. vary. From KQED. From KQED. From KQED, Public Radio in San Francisco, this is Forum.
0:51.8	I'm Lily Tremali.
0:53.2	From 2000 to 2001, the state faced an acute and puzzling energy crisis.
0:58.4	Practically overnight, the cost of electricity skyrocketed. And for a while, few people knew the exact details about why.
1:06.2	Regulators would later learn that on the heels of deregulation, market manipulation by companies like Enron was partially to blame.
1:13.2	Before long, rolling blackouts had become the norm.
1:16.4	We'll take a look back at the energy crisis, what happened, what we learned, and why the legacy of that time remains with us today.
1:24.3	That's next on Forum right after this news.
1:40.9	Welcome to Forum. I'm Lily Jamali. Two decades ago, California went dark.
1:45.3	On the heels of deregulation of the state power grid, rolling blackouts affected millions of Californians, hitting consumers at home and shutting down businesses. As power prices
1:51.4	skyrocketed, the utility PG&E filed for bankruptcy for the first time. The state's economy contracted
	...

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