California Energy Commission

Consumers just scored a victory with NRG's announcement that it is pulling the plug on a natural gas power plant in Ventura.

The Houston utility had contracted with Southern California Edison (SCE) to build the hotly contested Puente plant in Oxnard. Ratepayers would have shouldered the $300 million price tag.

While in Beijing last month, Gov. Jerry Brown publicly promoted the fight against climate change. Just as important was the quiet attendance of AES, a major builder of fossil-fuel power plants in California.

Was the governor making plans to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, or was he making deals to build more climate-warming natural gas plants? Unfortunately, California’s transparency laws don’t ensure the disclosure of such backroom conversations.

The Energy Commission committee charged with finding a solution for California’s high gas prices has sometimes been a hostile place for consumers over the last year and a half. At Tuesday's meeting, that changed. The Air Resources Board, NRDC, four members of the committee, and even oil trader Vitol SA echoed Consumer Watchdog to question refiners' market power and lack of transparency for price spikes.