| In 2000--2001, California faced dramatic price increases in its electricity markets and suffered from an unprecedented level of electricity supply interruptions. These events drew global attention and prompted a number of detailed studies. By analyzing the sources of this policy controversy, this dissertation sheds light on the competing visions underlying contemporary electricity policy debates.; Frame conflict theory, which highlights differences in frames---structures of belief, perception, and appreciation---as a source of policy controversies, offers analytical tools for studying the California electricity crisis and ensuing debates. As a first step toward a frame-critical analysis, the dissertation identifies three metaframes on electricity governance: the Regulated Monopoly Frame considering electricity as a public service; the Market Competition Frame viewing electricity as a private commodity; and the Community Power Frame redefining electricity as a community-based energy service.; Analysis of the controversy over the California electricity crisis during Stage I (May--December 2000), Stage II (January--June 2001), and Stage III (July 2001--June 2003) reveals differing ways in which different institutional actors drew on the three metaframes.; Throughout Stage I and II, the state government of California maintained the position that the state's electricity crisis was caused by market manipulation, and attempted to regain control over its electricity industry. Communities in California, on the other hand, called for the development of local renewable energy, efficiency and conservation technologies as the solution to the crisis.; In Stage III immediate symptoms of the crisis subsided, but a series of revelations about market manipulation by Enron and other sellers fueled the controversy further. In this stage, federal, state, local actors drew some common lessons, but advanced radically different reform proposals.; At the local level, efforts to operationalize the Community Power Frame were pronounced. San Francisco's solar bond proposal created an innovative mechanism to implement community-based clean energy projects, while state-wide community choice initiatives empowered municipal governments to pursue local control of electricity decision-making.; Three objectives were fulfilled by this dissertation research. Firstly, the research contributes to a fuller picture of the issues in the controversy over the California electricity crisis. Secondly, the dissertation clarifies the role of ideological contentions in the controversy by examining how the three metaframes were manifested in it. Thirdly, the dissertation highlights the crucial disjunctures between competing metaframes and the realities of the crisis, and identifies contradictions, dilemmas, and challenges present in different institutional responses to the crisis. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
