Report Warns of Electricity Shortage

California faces a “meaningful risk” of an electricity shortage because too few power plants are being built in the state, a study said.

A power shortage in California could develop by 2006 and worsen in following years, according to a report by the Bay Area Economic Forum, a local research group with members from the business, education and labor sectors.

Uncertainty in the energy industry about how California will structure its electricity markets is discouraging construction of new plants, the study said.

The Bay Area forum’s study was based on data from the California Energy Commission.