SCE´s deregulation “direct access implementation project” the “California experiences” (with emphasis on the usage reporting and settlement processes)

Restructuring of the California electric industry, known in California as direct access (DA), would create a process by which customers could chose another provider of electric energy. The design of direct access was going thorough a tortuous and slow series of proposals, hearings, and decisions by the California Public Utilities Commission(CPUC). However, the slowness of the process frustrated all players-the utilities, the state legislature, and those wishing to enter the huge California market for electric energy. Eventually the utilities began working with the California legislature to enact a statute that would take control of the process. The utilities were anxious to ensure that the process would be orderly, and that some of their desired features could be preserved-and most significantly, the opportunity to recover most of their stranded costs