Lights Out for Power Exchange.The California Power Exchange, the Pasadena-based nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. that served as the state's free market with electricity deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. , announced that it laid off 20 of its 200 employees and will soon shut its doors. Financial problems at Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. and Pacific Gas & Electric brought on by the state's power crisis forced the exchange to ban Edison and PG&E from trading. Those companies represented 70 percent of overall trading volume Trading volume The number of shares transacted every day. As there is a seller for every buyer, one can think of the trading volume as half of the number of shares transacted. That is, if A sells 100 shares to B, the volume is 100 shares. . The announced closure means electricity buyers will have to rely on private deals. The exchange was created as a place where marketers of power would be hooked into buyers with hourly auctions. The state required its three largest utilities, Edison, PG&E and San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. Gas & Electric to buy through the exchange to prevent secret deals with wholesalers. For some, the exchange represents the strongest case against deregulation because prices were set at the highest acceptable bid, driving up the cost and causing susceptibility to price spikes. |
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