In 1996, voters in California passed a measure to deregulate the power industry throughout the state. Proponents assured of ultimately lower prices for the consumer, driven by free market enterprise and competition. In 2000, San Diego and parts of Orange County became the first areas of the state to implement the new plan. Immediately, electricity bills skyrocketed. Instead of paying the usual 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, consumers were now being charged upwards of 17.7 cents per kilowatt-hour. Soon thereafter, California was plunged into days of unending power supply shortages and continuous stage 3 alerts. Utility companies, forced to sell off their power generating facilities, found themselves squeezed between the soaring wholesale costs and the limited prices they could pass on to their customers after Governor Davis capped consumer prices. Strangled by environmentalists, new power plants were slow to come online. Customers switched to natural gas where possible, sending those prices from less than 50 cents/therm to over $1.50/therm in less than a month. Christmas lights went dark. Thermostats were turned down. In the high-tech corridors of Silicon Valley, hallway fluorescents, vending machines nd even coffee stations were shutdown in a feeble attempt to conserve power. Intel. Sony. Gateway. Kyocera. The list of companies who high-tailed it out of California grew. Employees lost jobs. Prices of groceries, gas and all manner of retail items rose with no end in sight. Keith remembered fondly of those nights not so long ago when he was able to surf the web and play video games all night. Crushed by the unaffordable power prices, he was forced to unplug his high end gaming machine - standing around at the 24-hour Stater Bros for warmth instead of running the heater at home did not even put a dent in the heating bill as the unit price continued to rise. Sometimes at night, he curled up to his PC and played Everquest in his head. In time, Keith learned to find other means of entertainment and his box fan became his favorite toy. By poking a pen through the protective grating, he was able to give the blades a little shove to start them turning. With a strong flick of his fingers, he could often set the blades spinning for upwards of 3 minutes before they slowed to a stop. Occasionally he would watch the fan's reflection in the television's Trinitron screen. It wasn't quite like the old days of watching programming broadcast from Los Angeles or New York, but it would have to do. He still curses the environmentalists.