PUHCA for dummies and elephants.
Topic: General News.

It appears congress in determined to repeat history by repealing Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) of 1935. This is part of Cheney's energy bill which also gives the nuclear industry of pass on accidents. But, regarding PUHCA, this is a law passed to prevent the shenanigans that went on during the twenties, best typified by Samuel Insull, when power companies merged into bigger and bigger entites and created pyramid schemes that ultimatly collapsed leaving investors broke and conumers with higher bills.

The republicans have long memories and they are hell bent on getting rid of all those "fossilized" laws from the New Deal that protect the general public at the expense of a few tycoons. To them the depression was the good old days, even if the country was on its knees; they were in power, which is all that matters. FDR messed that all up. Not only do they want to gut all the protections put into law by the New Deal, they want Roosevelt off the dime!

Billions of Dollars in Energy Investments Await PUHCA Repeal in Energy Bill:

This is how the Natural Gas Intelligence web site sees it:

"Berkshire-Hathaway has $15 billion burning a hole in its pocket to invest in the energy industry and there is $100 billion of other investors' money "waiting on the sidelines" to see if Congress passes a broad energy bill this year, which includes repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA), MidAmerican's David Sokol told a natural gas strategy conference in Denver this week.

PUHCA, a fossilized law passed in 1935 which restricts investments of companies owning natural gas or electric utilities, has progressed "from nuisance to menace," said the Chairman of MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a Berkshire-Hathaway company. He called on Congress to move quickly to repeal PUHCA to open the field to non-traditional investors to "re-capitalize the industry."

Of course what don't want you to know is that this just makes what Enron did legal, basically.

Public Citizen reports from June 9 2005:

Dozens of Public Interest Organizations Urge Congress to Save Important Consumer Protection Act in Energy Bill

"Seventy-six national and state public interest organizations today urged Congress to save the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA), which protects consumers from high prices and other abuses by electric utility and natural gas companies. In a letter to the U.S. Senate, the groups urged lawmakers to save PUHCA from repeal, which both the House and Senate energy bills are proposing to do.

In ??exchange?? for repealing this vital consumer protection statute, the Senate bill gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) limited additional jurisdiction over mergers, but that will not help consumers.

??Giving FERC more merger authority is meaningless,?? said Lynn Hargis, an attorney with Public Citizen. ??FERC has no structural or geographic limitations for utility mergers, which is essential for regulating the size and scope of utility holding companies and preventing the kind of abuses that led to the enactment of PUHCA in 1935.'"

What are these guys on drugs?

Warren Buffet needs to make money! This is a good thing! Katty bar the door!

"An uninhibited marketplace would give aggressive utilities a better chance at capturing new markets and increasing shareholder wealth, proponents of PUHCA reform say. All in all, estimates are that the industry must attract $150 billion in new capital over 20 years??something that can only happen with regulatory reform, they add. Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet says that his company would invest as much as $15 billion in energy-related assets if PUHCA is repealed.

PUHCA imposes artificial constraints??constraints that were designed to promote policies that are not particularly relevant anymore, says Bill Harmon, with the Jones Day law firm in Chicago. Having investors with resources that are interested in long-term, sound business practices other things being equal is a good thing."