The counterrevolutions began with a first phase of deregulation and ideological counter-attacks, and the fall of the so-called "real" communisms.
The power utilities have been caught in a dangerous vise because under terms of this first phase of deregulation, they must pay market rates for power on the wholesale market while maintaining, until March 2002, caps on the rates they charge consumers.
So by the end of 2001, the second phase of deregulation of energy was completed with the emergence of a huge new and unregulated trading market for energy derivatives controlled by Enron, the banks and big oil.
Gerald Lieberman, the president of one larger independent power supplier, New Energy Ventures-East, noted that the first phase of deregulation was so oversubscribed that Con Edison had had to conduct a lottery to determine who would participate.
Similarly, executives of Compass Management and Leasing decided not to participate in the first phase of deregulation because of questions about sales tax savings and confusion over the rate structure.
The Electrical Power Procurement Alliance said it had negotiated a deal with New Energy Ventures-East and with Con Ed Solutions, the unregulated subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, that would provide immediate savings on electrical costs when the first, modest phase of deregulation starts on June 1.
"The tax piece is very big in the initial phases of deregulation," said Gerald Lieberman, the president of New Energy Ventures-East, which is a subsidiary of a California-based company, New Energy Ventures.
In the last phase of the deregulation process a multilateral market arrangement for managing energy imbalance and transmission constraints will result in better outcomes in relation to the policy objectives of security and economic efficiency.
A blast of deregulation would help, too.
It's a product of deregulation.
Like Mr Koizumi, Mr Hashimoto preaches a gospel of deregulation.
