A lot of PNW publicly owned (municipal, city, County PUD) electric utilities, were told by the rating agencies in the winder of 2000-1 that they needed to immediately and significantly (i.e. over 20%) raise their electric retail rates in Washington and Oregon or the credit rating agencies would downgrade the credit rating of the electric utilities. That is why in the Washington and Oregon so many electric utilties raised rates to consumers anywhere from 20 to about 90% (over a year ago) blaming it on record droughts and the California power crisis.
Those rates are still in place for the most part, and people up here in Washington state remember Gov. Davis saying that he would not allow a 10% rate increase by PG&E to help keep it from bankrupcy.
And people wonder why folks up in Washington with their higher electric bills, have zero sympathy for the mismanagement caused current problems in the state of California?????