In your recent story about Colorado’s renewable
energy initiative, representatives of the big utility companies
have faithfully called upon the magic of the free market, claiming
that the citizens are “artificially picking winners and losers in
the energy debate” (HCN, 9/13/04: Colorado voters hold the cards on
renewable energy).
Missing from this story, as usual, is
a realistic look at how the energy industry is already rigged for
the status quo. Consumers can’t demand an energy source if
there is no supply. Utility companies obviously have enormous power
over demand, and they really don’t have to worry about some
plucky entrepreneur starting up a power company with her credit
card, offering an alternative in the market place.
Also,
government plays a major role in fixing the type of power we
currently must consume. From the military’s role in securing
Middle East oil supplies, to Dick Cheney’s top-secret
meetings on energy policy, the traditional energy industry is not
the home of romantic, unbridled free-market capitalism that
industry executives would like us to believe.
So, it
seems to me that the truest expression of the free market in this
case is a group of people selling the population on the idea of
responsible renewable energy. Let the marketplace of ideas in the
form of an election determine what type of energy the people of
Colorado consume. Perhaps then true entrepreneurs will be needed to
figure out how to provide them with what they want.
Paul Brookshire
Seattle, Washington
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Energy industry is rigged.
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