Southern California Edison (2001 Crisis)

SCE's near-bankruptcy during California's 2001 energy crisis demonstrates how regulatory constraints can create fatal metabolic mismatch. Deregulation forced utilities to buy power on spot markets while keeping retail prices frozen—the equivalent of requiring an organism to hunt during a famine while prohibited from raising prices to survive. SCE lost $3.5 billion as wholesale prices spiked 1000% while retail rates stayed flat. Only regulatory intervention prevented dissolution.