WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THOSE “SWEEPING CHANGES” SUPPOSED TO OCCUR IN THE ELECTRIC UTILITY INDUSTRY (EDITED/UPDATED AND AMENDED 4/29, 5/6 & 12/24/2013 as well as 2/15, 4/22, 5/4, 5/21, 6/19, 7/26, 8/6, 8/22 & 8/27/2014) in addition to 7/22/2015?

Introduction:
One could hardly turn the pages of news media as well as industry publications and talk from Policy Makers without reading or hearing about the subject of the impending deregulation of the electric industry such as the 16 page special advertising section article featured in that Daily Timed Publication from the Empire State circa 3/25/1998 entitled “Energy: the Power to Choose”. These reports all focused on the proposed benefits to be realized by all consumers, and the myriad of choices, which would be available as a result, to add a sense of inevitability to the impending changes. Fast forward to 2013 and talk of deregulation is essentially dead and hardly any memory of its occurrence even exists and unless you were actively involved in the industry in the referenced time period [approximately eighteen (18) years ago] and knowledgeable on the subject that:

1. Policy makers were even examining the overhaul and repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) and the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1992 as appropriate,
2. individual states were each considering various forms of this issue with the potential to cause total chaos in the industry and
3. some states actually implemented some forms of this future industry;

would be considered to be lacking in knowledge about the industry’s historical events. This description takes a look back at specific industry events and compares them with the state of the industry as it exists today to provide readers with insight required to draw their “own” intelligent conclusions about the ensuing developments to help bring clarity from the chaotic ensuing conditions to be able to understand today’s Industry’s state of affairs.

Here are the Background Details:
This issue concerning the deregulation of that last “sacred cow of the monopolies”, the electric industry was of such importance then (mid 1990s) that:

• US Senator A. D’Aamto (R, NY) introduced a bill co-sponsored by then U.S. senator B. Dole from Kansas as well as five (5) other senators in October 1995 that would “help streamline regulation of utilities” and was intended to transfer electricity utility oversight from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
• Closer to "home" in the position in, which I, just a Program Engineer even felt the urgency of the Utilities' concerns as my then Employer, went to unusual lengths to obtain an (unethical , in my opinion), "limitless" Confidentiality Agreement from me when I was not in any executive position and whether or not I was an employee of the company INDEFINITELY, ostensibly over concerns with having any of this entity's business secrets because of pending deregulation as the below photos will indicate. Furthermore, when the same Agreement was attempted when all employees at the Plant were essentially transferred to NMC, (in, which the previous employer was a part owner, the attorney, in the meeting in, which the below form of their Agreement that was demanded from me, indicated that he would have never allowed me to opt out as the Agreement with Alliant Energy of 02/09/99 indicates I did.

  

• In addition, the SEC’s own Report of earlier that year had recommended a reform of PUHCA because it imposes “major costs” on utilities, making them “uncompetitive” and offering investors little benefit…”
• Then in April 1996, FERC itself weighed in and published new rules known as FERC Order 888

on the subject of open transmission that would effectively require:

1. The opening up of electric Utility transmission lines to other power producers
2. An annual savings of between $3.8 and $5.4 billion annually
3. Utilities were to act as “common carriers” of electricity
4. Utilities were to act and established bulletin boards to share information about transmission capacity
5. Utilities were to be able to recover “stranded costs” (namely the costs of their existing equipment required by regulatory agencies) by charging fees to large customers who decided to switch from one provider to another and
6. However, implementation of the ability to choose providers among average consumers was to be delayed initially.

Correspondingly, the then Administration in April, 1998 proposed “sweeping changes” to deregulate this last monopolistic industry (that doesn’t adopt well to 
change), to do so by 2003 and included the following: 

• Allowance for states to opt out of competition (as its main criterion)
• Establishing a $3 billion fund to promote conservation and to assist low income customers
• A requirement for utilities to produce at least 5.5% percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010
• The enabling of a typical family to realize a savings of $232 annually and
• FERC would be given the authority to establish an independent body to regulate the use of transmission lines. 

At that time, the industry was most critical of the requirement to place additional authority to shape “market power” in the “hands” of FERC and even the rural Co-Ops joined in the lobbying frenzy to urge Policy Makers to protect “their” interests since they reportedly owned 47% of all U.S. power transmission lines collectively and opposed deregulation by a specific date.To prepare for the coming deregulation in the Industry and the market of the future, a company created as a result of the 1985 merging of Houston, TX based Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth of Omaha, NE, known as Enron had its business model patterned on what it concluded the shape of the deregulated Industry would be, so much so that Company CEO Jeff Skilling in 2001 described the entity as “a marketing and logistics Company that figures out the most cost-effective way to transport a commodity to its destination.” Basically, it can be said that this Company had grown into a premier commodities trading Company (of sorts). The most interesting aspect of the debate were the so-called “sweeping changes” proposed by the then Administration, which were in reality an introduction of new environmental talking points and the ceding of the power to deregulate the Industry to the states. By this position, the stage was being set apparently for FIFTY (50) different approaches to “deregulation” instead of taking a leading role to ensure a coordinated solution to enable consumers to save the promised “targeted” $232/year in savings proposed. In addition, the Policy Making Agency involved with this issue, publicly expressed confidence that reliability would NOT be impacted by competition while at the same time implying that it could not be taken for granted either. At the same time a new self-regulatory system patterned after the stock exchange with oversight authority vested in FERC was being developed by the applicable Agency.
With  this backdrop, the stage was set for the deregulation of the industry, (NOT SO FAST), Instead, what occurred was:

1. the leading Senator “spearheading” the deregulation effort was defeated at the polls in his 1998 re-election bid.
2. the entity that patterned its business model after what it considered a deregulated would look like (Enron) failed in a “spectacular” collapse. It was eventually determined that certain Wall Street entities and one of the accounting industry's leading players were complicit in enabling Enron to maintain the posture of a powerful industry “Titan” mainly on “paper” (while waiting for the deregulated industry to move into full swing) with the use of "creative" financial instruments and accounting practices and
3. the September 11th  ("spectacular") disaster occurred, which was the first “major nail in the coffin” of the deregulation debate that slowed considerably afterwards as all were focused on terrorism, not withstanding the fact that this event's occurrence just so happened to coincide with the 21st anniversary of the issuance of my Pratt acceptance letter on September 11th 1980 appeared to be "coincidental", WAS IT CONNECTED? (see the post "COINCIDENCES" AND OTHER THINGS - UPDATED as well as the included Pratt photo below also included in the post HISTORICAL FACTS ARE NOT ALTERED BY CURRENT EVENTS - UPDATED). 
4. in quick succession of the two previous events was the “spectacular” blackout of historic proportions that occurred on August 14, 2003, (not withstanding the fact that this event's occurrence just so happened also to coincide with the 23rd anniversary of my 1980 TCI graduation,* see Footnote, as well as the my TCI Attendance File (represented by the below photo for a total of 34 photos), which encompassed the areas of the Midwest from Michigan to the Northeast up to and including parts of eastern Canada as documented in that Daily/Weekend Business Street Publication from August 15, 2003 (A1/10) in addition to the bulleted listing in the Here are the Background Facts and Details section of the post VOLUNTARY LIFE ALTERING DECISIONS BRING MEANINGFUL CHANGE - UPDATED AND AMENDED, which was the final “nail in the coffin” of the deregulation debate.                       

These “spectacular” "coincidences" just so happened to work out perfectly well in the favor of these operating monopolies and/or dictatorial dynasties (see the posts ONE CASUALTY OF THE RECENT FINANCIAL CRISIS - TOO BIG TO CHANGE) as well as ONE TOO MANY COINCIDENCES - THE FINALE - UPDATED AND EDITED and in the process, some concluded that their occurrence had effectively covered-up my history in this "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave" prior to Iowa, that unspoken "elephant in the room" described in item # 4 of the bulleted listing in the Here are the Details of Interest section of the post GARBAGE IN, (SWEET SMELLING ODORS), GARBAGE OUT - UPDATED.
 
The Outcome/Potential Developments:
By 2013, the conditions that exist are as follows:

• zero mention of electricity deregulation even exists even as a historical footnote,
• neither is there an annual $232/household electric utility savings as promised,
• nor are there fifty (50) different state solutions to the deregulation of the electric industry being pursued or enacted.
• The terrorism focus ended or “blacked out” all discussion of electric utility deregulation, because there were other pressing "national" interest, such as
• "protecting" the Nation's vital interests, "including the electric utility industry from being the object of terrorists" became a very pressing national concern. 
• the reliability issues about the Industry, introduced  by the second of the "twin spectacular disasters" swept all remaining talk of any such activity, even if any existed at that time, "under the table" and it was "quietly laid to rest".  Was all the deregulation talk an elaborate hoax or not? 

That is a very important question with much significant historical perspective, and what exists today, is the following:

1. Millions of households either were and/or are still “underwater” and
2. instead of realizing $232/family in electric utility bill savings annually, homes were and are being lost instead even by some who were themselves assisted in heir hour of need as discussed in the Finale/Outcome section of the post HOW CAN THERE BE ANY DEGREE OF CONFIDENCE THAT THE STATE OF FINANCIAL FIRMS IS WHAT IT APPEARS TO BE - UPDATED AND AMENDED.
3. A "shadow banking cottage industry" of such importance to this Nation’s financial structure, which at its peak reach ($36 trillion when a "randomly" selected 29-year period was considered) that it was mentioned in the FCIC’s Report as a significant contributor to the most devastating financial crisis of at least 100 years, that no one knew existed and yet it was left unaddressed as discussed in The Highlights of the FCICs Findings are Described Here and Finale sections of the post THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSIONs (FCICs) REPORT IN ADDITION TO TIME ALSO VINDICATES A CRUSADER - UPDATED!.
4. My 3/2/1978 entry into this Country for education purposes from then until December 1981, carried out successfully [see the posts THE OUTSPOKEN PEN PAL, WHO BECAME A FRIEND (EDITED)! and THE ACQUAINTANCE WHOSE FRIENDSHIP WAS UNEXPECTEDLY CONSISTENT] is being mirrored exactly by electric utility industry and other connected  “shadowy” types whose claims about their status as "originals" aren't supported by a close examination of the FACTS as discussed in item # 6 of the Finale section of the post WHEN TRUST TURNS - UPDATED.
5. The fact that these development took place under the Administration of the 42nd President does not mean that he is personally responsible. After all with the myriad number of advisers and others who typically surround such administrations, there is no telling where the idea for these intricate details "first" originated. 

The outcome in effect meant that in reality no changes really occurred, and no households have benefited to the tune of two hundred and thirty two (232) dollars annually; which like the utility deregulation itself and the Michael Jackson "Comeback" tour, all never materialized intentionally? What is known however, is that these "secretive/shadowy" "free loaders cause" types collectively known as the "shadowy consuming monster" as documented in the Conclusion section of the post PUTTING ON YOUR BEST FACE - EDITED AND UPDATED is in my opinion capable of pulling off such as documented in The Outcome section of the post A BADLY SCRIPTED DRAMA - UPDATED. Only One really knows for certain what took place, because in reality no changes were proposed in this classic example of a scenario that produced no end result for the millions of households so promised, but as correctly depicted in the Cosvry post  ONE TOO MANY COINCIDENCES - THE FINALE UPDATED, SPECTACULAR EVENTS ONLY ALTER UPCOMING EVENTS.

On the other hand if "real" changes had been proposed and just those 10.7 million households impacted by the recent financial crisis (see the post THE FORGOTTEN VOTERS!) were considered, the $4176 per household savings that could have been realized if "actual" changes had been proposed; may have assisted many of them from loosing their homes to “underwater” conditions, amounting to a $44.68 trillion promise that never materialized. Today what exists is:

• the dynastic monopoly “lives” on and zero real changes have occurred in its business model,
• “free” speech rights have now been added to those “shadowy free loader” types associated with this and other industries with such types among those that make-up of their executive ranks and furthermore,
• these types have repeatedly attempted to demonstrate that "photoless" type impostors hiding behind the photo of an individual (mine) with their statistics as the 2nd bulleted highlight in the "As demonstrated on the pages of these Blogs..." paragraph of the Conclusion section of the post HOW CAN THERE BE ANY DEGREE OF CONFIDENCE HAT THE STATE OF FINANCIAL FIRMS IS WHAT IT APPEARS TO BE - UPDATED AND AMENDED?, indicates; have the exact educational and professional journey (or solid "foundations") as me in this "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave" even though unsupported by the documented "FACTS" while in my opinion relying on the occurrence of "spectacular coincidental disasters" to conclude that my solid "foundations" have somehow been magically erased as documented in item 4 of the listing in the "This Sounds well and Good but These are the Facts" section of the post WHO REALLY WAS GRANTED FREEDOM TO SPEAK - UPDATED AND AMENDED, and have somehow been transformed into "ORIGINALS" with their "origin issues".
• the fact that all who previously provided references with knowledge of my accomplishments have met with their untimely demises and/or "destruction" and/or are now providing perjured and/or blatantly false testimony/support  "verbal" for those of the "free loader cause" doesn't appear to strike anyone as totally sinister, especially when TWO (2) successful background checks were completed in 1991. 

The Conclusion:

It all comes back to the fact that these actions clearly demonstrate abuse of power and that hiring for the purpose of identity switching was always the intended objective (AS DOCUMENTED IN THE POST OF THE SAME TITLE, AN EXAMPLE OF HIRING FOR THE PURPOSE OF IDENTITY TRANSFER) as well as the below photo of excerpts from pages completed to satisfy the background criteria in 1991, ostensibly to obtain the






2/82 depicted in this listing for Stonegate should be 2/1983, because the closing

did not take place until January 31, 1983 and the Greens Loop Dr. Address should

be 3/89 to 5/89.  






        Above are three of the six (6) pages & attachments plus
        provided to IELP to initiate the initial Background check 
        from 5/5/1991 and contain a few incorrect dates for
        Stonegate address, which began on 2/83 as noted above and
        for Greens Loop Dr., which was from 3/89 to 5/89. In addition, 
        my official attendance dates for TCI, which were 3/1978 to
        8/1980 and my official graduation date from Pratt, which was 2/1982.

names and addresses of all who were familiar with the individuals history said to be then necessary due to my time taken off to implement the not-for-profit youth outreach activity) and a ten-year duration in, which the specific Program "clean-up" tasks for, which I was hired were accomplished successfully and "somehow" simultaneously with this development, ALL THOSE WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY PROVIDED SUPPORTIVE BACKGROUND CORROBORATION, WERE NOW, DEAD, REPLACED AND/OR NOW PROVIDING "PERJURED" TESTIMONY (see the post WHEN SACRIFICING IS IMPLEMENTED BY DECREE - (UPDATED) as well as THE CHANGES THAT FOILED THE "BLACKOUT" (UPDATED AND AMENDED) in addition to GARBAGE IN, (SWEET SMELLING ODORS), GARBAGE OUT - UPDATED for a discussion of some of the additional details about these methods of the "free loaders" and about their types who are now providing "switched" testimony, and no one thought about this from an ethical perspective as warranted informing me of its development that was so important that it resulted in a significant "shift" in the conditions, which had occurred earlier. Awareness on my part would only come after, layoff and the unusual occurrences associated with identity misuse, "nameform" changes, etc., taking place associated with my then address since 1992 (see the example included in the below photo in, which routine and commonplace incidences can be manipulated and misused by those of the "free loaders cause" to convey something that was NOT intended) as representative of a host of similar issues etc., such as this, if not serious

 

would have been considered a comedy of errors. Some of the generic developments can generally be obtained for the most part from the post  ONE TOO MANY COINCIDENCES - THE FINALE UPDATED (AND EDITED).
What changes have consumers realized, just more promises of better things (or days) ahead, more flexing of the collective strength to demonstrate its awesome coordinated power to render "darkness" all because the conditions just did not avail themselves to do anything more on their behalf, when some undeserving "shadowy free loader" types were benefiting from "sweetheart" mortgage deals not too far from the public's eye (as documented in the post WHAT LESSONS HAVE BEEN LEARNED FROM THE RECENT FINANCIAL CRISIS - UPDATED?)! I wonder who really reaped the annual benefits of the $44.68 trillion at minimum, which utilities saved by not having to change their monopolistic operating style over the past approximate 18-year period, and more importantly since deregulation was never realized, HOW DID MY PREVIOUS "ETHICALLY CHALLENGED" EMPLOYER (NOW ARMED WITH THE ABILITY TO "SPEAK") REALLY USE THOSE "SECRECY AGREEMENTS", SUCH THAT I CANNOT EVEN OBTAIN MAIL INTENDED FOR ME (DBA AS CONSERVERY) A SIMPLE RIGHT GRANTED ALL UNDER THE CONSTITUTION) WITHOUT IT BEING INTERCEPTED? 


* Footnote:
See the bulleted listing in The Finale/Outcome section of the post HOW TO VIOLATE FERPA AND STILL COMPLY WITH THE INTENT OF THE LAW - UPDATED for additional details about this spectacular disaster that took place on the 23rd anniversary of my graduation from TCI from a different perspective and other odd developments surrounding this historical fact.