"What? Live half my day, half my life, without electricity!"

That's what my television newscaster and newspaper has been telling me these past few weeks. Energy conservation has been a topic that has been drilled into me for most of my life. I am constantly vigilent of not wasting that precious commodity -- I turn lights on and off constantly. As concerned citizens, we are really committed to the cause.

But where do we put the blame for the failure of our energy facilities? No matter how one slices it, blame always lies at the feet of those in charge of running such a huge company. The old adage, "The fish stinks at the head", stands the test of time. In the mid-90's, John Bryson, head of Edison Electric, was the foremost propounder of the deregulation process and now he apologizes for not fighting to keep our existing generating plants and not insisting to build new ones. He claims not to have foreseen the disastrous rise in our wholesale prices for power and so he took no steps to try to prevent the debaucle that is a natural result of supply and demand.

At this point we can't talk about the consumer -- without saying, he gets it in the neck . Who else has the money to bail us out. Where did that ten billion dollar bail-out fund Governor Davis just signed originally come from? The taxpayer. Where is the money coming form to keep the utility company operating, even in the red. The consumer, who is the taxpayer. How do I see it? We will be paying twice for the same product. And I see penalties in our future. If you use too much of it, too much being a figure that the electric guru's think up, then you will pay extra, just like we do for water now. (We won't talk about that in this article -- whenever I draw a glass of water from my tap, I feel guilty.)

And what about the shareholders? All my life I've been told that the safest investment for the few dollars one is able to squirrel away is better kept in tax-free utility bonds. You would think that the highest paid CEO in California, John Bryson, (base yearly salary = $900,000; benefits and paid expenses = closely guarded secret; yearly bonus (For what?) = 1.26 million dollars!) would have cast a mindful eye to the welfare of Edison's employees, 20,000 strong, and lent a guarded ear to the protection the company's investors demanded; they number over 85,000 people, mostly retirees. Since February, their stock has lost nearly half of its value wiping out nearly $5 billion dollars of its shareholder's wealth!

So you see, our energy crisis is not only about the shortage of electricity. Even if we surface intact and our power keeps flowing, how do we repair the personl devastation it has caused us all in one measure or another. Electricity, as a power source in our daily lives, will never be 'affordable' again. The new, monthly bills that I expect to get will break me, I'm sure of that. I had never factored into my budget excessive energy bills.

Hmmm! Maybe the Quakers and the Mennonites always did know something that we didn't. To hell with boarding the metrolink, which will take me to my office. To hell with turning on my computer, once I get there, to pound out my daily columns. I will now have to approach another state of mind: Hike my abacus under my arm, strap my manual typewriter across my back and hitch up my horse team to my buggy to go to work.

My wife left a note for me in my lunch bag: Don't forget to pick up the candles from the general store on your way home.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
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