[Aloha]

Texas managed to deregulate power around the same time, and it's worked out pretty well, moving from Washington to Texas I saw a near 20% reduction in my energy rates.

The problem isn't deregulation alone, it's that generation was stripped from distribution, but retail sales wasn't decoupled from distribution.

[CalChris]

The ‘deregulation’ in California was designed to allow Enron to game the system. The blackouts were Enron gaming the system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis

[Aloha]

Your assertion for designed isn't backed by your source, and had California fully deregulated the market, the swindle by Enron likely wouldn't have been possible, as public opinion would have goaded the legislature into action - but because the end consumer wasn't feeling any pain, no change was possible.

[CalChris]

Enron lobbied at both Federal and state levels for their version of partial deregulation which they could (and did) game. That's also covered in my cite.

[inferiorhuman]

Texas managed to deregulate power around the same time, and it's worked out pretty well, moving from Washington to Texas I saw a near 20% reduction in my energy rates.

According to Texas Coalition for Affordable Power (TCAP): "deregulation cost Texans about $22 billion from 2002 to 2012. And residents in the deregulated market pay prices that are considerably higher than those who live in parts of the state that are still regulated. For example, TCAP found that the average consumer living in one of the areas that opted out of deregulation, such as Austin and San Antonio, paid $288 less in 2012 than consumers in the deregulated areas."