Talked to staffers at Sen. Dean Florez' office a while back. Seems their constituents were really, really upset at their summer PGE bills. They blamed it on "smart meters" and there was, and still may be, a full blown investigation.

My experience, however, is that the rates simply soared to the moon under the radar of most folks and consumers did not understand the way they were billed. We're still paying back bonds from 2001. WARNING: Have your blood pressure medicine handy if you haven't seen or read ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room.