Power: Legislature’s Decision Flawed

* I am resigned to the fact that I and virtually everyone else in California will have to pay much higher rates for electricity, except those who receive their power from municipally owned utilities. I am also convinced that if it were not for our Legislature and our former governor, we would not be experiencing this rate increase. All one has to look at is the L.A. Department of Water and Power to conclude that the decision of the Legislature to deregulate the industry was flawed. In addition to the exorbitantly higher rates we will have to pay, the state’s surplus, which is due in part to the taxes we all pay, is being drained.

I don’t know if the state Constitution provides for the recall of legislators, but if it does it would be appropriate to recall all those legislators who voted for deregulation and are still holding office.

IRWIN BRAND

Redondo Beach

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I have to disagree with Robert J. Switzer (letter, March 30) and all the other “blame the power crisis on term limits” crowd. We got deregulated because we, the voters, left the terms too long. This gives the Legislature too much time to get into trouble and try to fix things that aren’t broken.

How about this term limit: one two-year term each, but they can only meet for six months each year. The first year of the term they would only be allowed to propose legislation, which would be voted on in the second year. There would also be a limit to the pieces of legislation per term of 10, one of those being the budget.

ERMINIO MAGANZINI

La Habra

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While visiting California for most of February my husband and I expected to run into some inconvenience due to your state’s energy dilemma. We traveled from Costa Mesa down to San Diego and on up to San Francisco. The only hardship we encountered was a $1 daily surcharge tacked onto one hotel’s bill.

We made the mecca of affluence and opulence: Beverly Hills. In a state that finds itself in the midst of soaring energy rates, bankruptcy of its utilities and rolling blackouts, we strolled this area of L.A. where sidewalk cafes abound, some that even share a common wall. Yet each cafe had its own set of four air heaters going full blast within walls of plastic that each had erected to insulate “their” air.

ANITA HEITMAN

Northport, Mich.

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Charles J. O’Connell (letter, March 29) is anxious to “give credit” to the Sierra Club and other environmentalists for what he perceives as their role in the state’s current energy crisis. Is he also willing to give them credit for the improvements in air quality all Californians have enjoyed over the last 25 years? Specifically: Average ozone levels down 30%; carbon monoxide levels down by 60%; sulfur dioxide down 80%; ambient lead levels down by 97%.

GRANT MINER

Costa Mesa

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When is Gov. Nero going to stop fiddling and help solve the California energy situation? So far he has done nothing to increase supply or decrease demand, he’s only given away our budget surplus.

DAVID CHEREB

Mission Viejo