"We can't continue burning through the general fund without a clear message from the administration about what the endgame is," Keeley said.
The Public Utilities Commission, whose chairperson is appointed by Davis, is supposed to implement a plan in which money from utility ratepayers' bills would repay $10 billion in bonds. Those bonds, in turn, would reimburse the budget for the money the state is spending to keep the lights on.
A representative of one of California's power generators, citing the soaring cost of power on Monday's extraordinarily volatile spot market, estimated that the state spent as much as $83 million for electricity--far more than the recent daily average of $50 million per day.
On Monday, the Department of Finance delivered its sixth letter to the Legislature, seeking another $500 million in general tax money to buy electricity. The request pushes the total sought by the Davis administration to $4.7 billion.
Meantime, Assembly Republican leader Bill Campbell of Villa Park was planning to deliver a letter to Davis today, demanding the resignation of PUC Chairwoman Loretta Lynch. Campbell said the PUC, which is supposed to oversee the private utilities, has been marred by "inaction and delay.'
"We have an entity called California Public Utilities Commission that should have solved it," Campbell said. "We're trying to fix things in the Legislature that should have been done by the PUC."
*
Times staff writers contributing to power coverage: Stanley Allison, Eric Bailey, Mark Z. Barabak, Tina Borgatta, Bettina Boxall, Miguel Bustillo, Carol Chambers, Marla Dickerson, Leslie Earnest, Irene Garcia, John M. Glionna, Scott Gold, Abigail Goldman, Jeff Gottlieb, David Haldane, Bonnie Harris, Jerry Hicks, Carl Ingram, Greg Johnson, Oscar Johnson, Maria L. La Ganga, Thuy-Doan Le, Roberto Manzano, Scott Martelle, Dennis McLellan, Jennifer Mena, Terence Monmaney, Dan Morain, Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, Anne-Marie O'Connor, David Pierson, Bob Pool, H.G. Reza, Nicholas Riccardi, Louis Sahagun, Richard Simon, Doug Smith, Jason Song, Darryl Strickland, Margaret Talev, Mai Tran, Rebecca Trounson, Martha Willman, Richard Winton and Nancy Wride. Also contributing were correspondents Deborah Sullivan Brennan, Paul Levikow, Rene Luna and Gene Maddaus.
