National Energy Marketers Association
News Release Contact: Craig Goodman
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Telephone: (202) 333-3288
January 31, 2001 Facsimile: (202) 333-3266
Website: www.energymarketers.com.
National Energy Marketers Association
Formulates Responses to West-Coast Energy Crisis for the Bush Administration and Congress
Supply Shortages and Price Spikes Impact US & Global Economies
Washington, DC – The Executive Committee of the National Energy Marketers Association (NEM) met to develop both supply and demand responses to the West Coast Energy Crisis for the Bush Administration and Congress. Energy and technology experts from all regions of the country and overseas reviewed Governor Davis' proposals and recommended effective, low-cost solutions to the current energy crisis. Of major concern was the need for federal and state lawmakers to avoid the failed legal, regulatory, economic and political policies of the 1970s that led to a decade of recession, stagnation and inflation.
Some of the options that were analyzed included:
Short term responses:
· Conservation Incentive Rates for all sizes of customers
· Emergency Conservation Actions by the state, utilities, and consumers
· Commoditizing energy loads to buy down peak usage
· Use of existing regulatory power to override stalled generation siting decisions
· Tax incentives for investments in new energy supplies, conservation, technology, and infrastructure
Mid-term Responses:
· Better recognition in local siting decisions of the regional economic impacts of inadequate energy supplies
· Regulatory incentives for congestion management, maintenance coordination and infrastructure improvements
· Regulatory incentives for advanced metering, computer system upgrades, distributed generation and streamlined interconnection procedures
"There are significant investments that must be made to bring the United States energy infrastructure into the digital age. The U.S. and global economies cannot stand black-outs in Silicon Valley," says Craig Goodman, President of the National Energy Marketers Association and former Director of Oil, Economic and Energy Tax Policy in the Reagan and first Bush Administrations. "Despite all the miscalculations that led to this crisis, energy price spikes can always be predicted if new supplies are not added while demand increases. Every state has a legitimate interest in protecting in-state consumers from increasing energy prices. However, the current 60-year old system of federal and state laws and regulations were designed around a local franchise monopoly paradigm. To deliver the lowest possible prices to consumers, new laws and regulations are needed immediately so that competitive suppliers can super-aggregate energy demand and deliver national economies of scale to even the smallest consumers. Competitive energy suppliers cannot succeed unless they can offer consumers lower prices than the local franchise monopoly," says Goodman.
The National Energy Marketers Association (NEM) is a national, non-profit trade association representing marketers of energy and energy-related products, services, information and technologies throughout the United States. For more information, contact NEM's Washington, DC headquarters at (202) 333-3288 or
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