Angelika Yes, and I have to report on another political issue. California is currently grappling with a severe energy crisis. Every day we are threatened with the possibility that, literally, the lights will go out for a few hours because the electricity being produced is no longer sufficient. Even today, we are at energy alert level 3, which means that the power companies might turn off the supply in the late afternoon, leaving us without electricity for a few hours.

Go ahead and mock this supposedly high-tech country! So far, however, there hasn't been a so-called "blackout," but only because many companies voluntarily close early to save on power usage. I can tell you, it's really annoying having to walk around equipped with a flashlight, especially in the darkroom where I was really nervous last week. If the power goes out there, and with it the red light, you can't see your hand in front of your face because the walls are painted black and there are no windows. It's well known that Americans aren't exactly masters at conserving power. It's therefore quite amusing to watch when measures are discussed on how to save. At AOL, for example, employees were instructed to turn off their computers when they go home.

The crisis in California is, of course, self-inflicted. First, there's the booming Silicon Valley, which, with its high-tech companies, and those consume enormous amounts of electricity. Then there's the never-ending growth of the Californian population. However, the main cause is that in 1996, under Governor Pete Wilson, the energy market was deregulated: prices that energy companies can charge consumers cannot exceed a certain level.

But when energy companies have to purchase electricity themselves, the free market applies. A very illogical situation. Since Californian energy companies obtain most of their electricity from other states (there are far too few power plants in California, and too few new ones have been built to meet demand), and energy companies there are ruthlessly exploiting the situation, prices on the free market have skyrocketed to astronomical levels. This means that energy companies in California are buying at much higher prices than they are selling, accumulating debt upon debt, so that, for example, the company PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric Company) is facing bankruptcy. As an initial emergency measure, it was decided that prices could be temporarily increased (I turned pale when I opened last month's electricity bill), but that's probably just a drop in the bucket. It's a good thing I bought one of those huge flashlights, like the ones used in construction, a few months ago. I had thought of power outages after an earthquake and had to endure Michael's mocking comments, but he who laughs last, laughs best, as they say.

Ha, information can change in minutes. There have just been the first so-called "rolling blackouts": each time a different neighborhood is without power, and it rotates. Our neighborhood hasn't been affected yet. However, I just found out that we are in Block 12. So, we are twelfth in line, and at 5 PM, the power was cut for the people in Block 5. By the way, you can find out which block you belong to by looking at your power bill (bottom left, in case anyone is interested). So now I have to type even faster to finish the newsletter before the power goes out.

• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Gun Laws in California
  	Vacation in Las Vegas
  	Las Vegas Hotelroom Shenanigans
  	Death Valley
  	Trip to Germany
  	News in Politics
  	Karaoke

  
  

• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Gun Laws in California
  	Vacation in Las Vegas
  	Las Vegas Hotelroom Shenanigans
  	Death Valley
  	Trip to Germany
  	News in Politics
  	Karaoke