The deregulation legislation passed nearly a decade ago to almost universal applause was supposed to help.

"These guys are all under enormous political pressure," said former Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican, whose administration backed the deregulation legislation in 1996.

Environmentalists say they still have concerns about the deregulation legislation and the language on stranded costs.

Following earlier deregulation legislation in 1980, Garn-St.

Customers were allowed to select suppliers of electricity beginning in 2001 under the electric deregulation legislation enacted in 1999.

Gov. Christine Todd Whitman signed deregulation legislation yesterday that she said would reduce consumers' electric bills, but that critics said would reward pollution and inefficiency.

"It's a nationwide problem," said State Senator Steve Peace, a San Diego Democrat who helped write the deregulation legislation but is now calling for some government controls on prices.

In the three years since deregulation legislation passed in Ohio, its spending on maintaining its high-voltage transmission lines in Ohio has remained all but flat.

The financial crisis was possible because of partial deregulation legislation instituted in 1996 by the California Legislature (AB 1890) and Governor Pete Wilson.

However, this analyst added that the company is betting that deregulation legislation pending in Congress would ultimately make the Scripps acquisition very profitable.