|
|
Enron Mail |
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Jeff Dasovich X-To: Alan Comnes, Angela Schwarz, Beverly Aden, Bill Votaw, Brenda Barreda, Carol Moffett, Cathy Corbin, Chris H Foster, Christina Liscano, Christopher F Calger, Craig H Sutter, Dan Leff, Debora Whitehead, Dennis Benevides, Don Black, Dorothy Youngblood, Douglas Huth, Edward Sacks, Eric Melvin, Erika Dupre, Evan Hughes, Fran Deltoro, Frank W Vickers, Gayle W Muench, Ginger Dernehl, Gordon Savage, Harold G Buchanan, Harry Kingerski, Iris Waser, James D Steffes, James W Lewis, James Wright, Jeff Messina, Jeremy Blachman, Jess Hewitt, Joe Hartsoe, Karen Denne, Kathy Bass, Kathy Dodgen, Ken Gustafson, Kevin Hughes, Leasa Lopez, Leticia Botello, Mark S Muller, Marsha Suggs, Marty Sunde, Meredith M Eggleston, Michael Etringer, Michael Mann, Michelle D Cisneros, mpalmer@enron.com, Neil Bresnan, Neil Hong, Paul Kaufman, Paula Warren, Richard L Zdunkewicz, Richard Leibert, Richard Shapiro, Rita Hennessy, Robert Badeer, Roger Yang, Rosalinda Tijerina, Sandra McCubbin, Sarah Novosel, Scott Gahn, Scott Stoness, Sharon Dick, skean@enron.com, Susan J Mara, Tanya Leslie, Tasha Lair, Ted Murphy, Terri Greenlee, Tim Belden, Tony Spruiell, Vicki Sharp, Vladimir Gorny, Wanda Curry, William S Bradford, Kathryn Corbally, Jubran Whalan, triley@enron.com, Richard B Sanders, Robert C Williams, Greg Wolfe, James Wright, Dirk vanUlden, Steve Walker, Jennifer Rudolph, Martin Wenzel, Douglas Condon, wgang@enron.com, Scott Govenar <sgovenar@govadv.com<, Hedy Govenar <hgovenar@mail.acom2.com< @ ENRON, jklauber@llgm.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Jeff_Dasovich_June2001\Notes Folders\Sent X-Origin: DASOVICH-J X-FileName: jdasovic.nsf ----- Forwarded by Jeff Dasovich/NA/Enron on 02/27/2001 05:50 PM ----- Jean Munoz <jmunoz@mcnallytemple.com< 02/27/2001 04:30 PM To: IEP <jmunoz@mcnallytemple.com< cc: Subject: IEP News Update Mirant Agrees to Move 1,000 Megawatts in Power Contracts to California DWR PR Newswire 02/27/01, 5:17p (Copyright , 2001, PR Newswire) SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Mirant Corp. (NYSE: MIR) today announced an agreement to shift 1,000 megawatts in power contracts from the California Power Exchange to the state's Department of Water Resources (DWR), which is acting as the state's electricity buyer. "In our continuing effort to cooperate with the State of California, the California DWR has been named as the third-party holder of these contracts," said Randy Harrison, chief executive officer of Mirant's western U.S. operations. "This places the contracts directly in the hands of a creditworthy entity." The contracts vary in term length from a month to 10 months. The state of California took control of the contracts after the California Power Exchange ceased doing business. Mirant, which operates California power plants in San Francisco, Antioch and Pittsburg, last week agreed to provide 750 megawatts of electric generation capacity to DWR during March. Formerly known as Southern Energy, Mirant is a global competitive energy company with leading energy marketing and risk-management expertise. With an integrated business model, Mirant develops, constructs, owns and operates power plants and sells wholesale electricity, gas and other energy-related commodity products. The company has extensive operations in North America, Europe and Asia. Mirant owns or controls more than 20,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity around the world, including more than 14,000 megawatts in the United States, with another 9,000 megawatts under advanced development. Mirant is 80 percent owned by Southern Company (NYSE: SO) SOURCE Mirant Corp. /CONTACT: media, Chuck Griffin, 678-579-7814, or investors, John Robinson, 678-579-7782, both of Mirant Corp./ /Web site: http://www.mirant.com / Fitch Views SCE Transmission Sale Favorably Business Wire 02/27/01, 2:00p (Copyright , 2001, Business Wire) NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2001--Fitch views Southern California Edison's (SCE) tentative agreement to sell its transmission assets as a favorable step to avoid bankruptcy. Fitch maintains its Rating Watch Evolving status for SCE's securities. Under an agreement announced by the Governor of California, the state plans to purchase SCE's transmission lines for $2.76 billion. Gains from the sale are expected to reduce debt incurred for power procurement costs that have exceeded retail rates. At 2.3 times (x) their book value, the purchase price is a healthy multiple on assets that earn a small percentage of total utility revenues. SCE's remaining assets are low variable cost generation (primarily hydro and nuclear, with some coal-fired), and its large distribution infrastructure. As of Jan. 31, 2001, SCE had incurred approximately $5.5 billion of undercollections. Under its first mortgage indenture, SCE's transmission assets may be released from the mortgage without paying secured bondholders if at least 150% asset coverage of outstanding secured debt exists. SCE has approximately $9 billion of additional unbonded utility property, which provides more than enough collateral to permit the transmission asset sale under the indenture. Proceeds from the transmission asset sale, however, are insufficient to recoup all of SCE's previously incurred undercollections and meet financial obligations. SCE owes approximately $614 million in unpaid principal and interest on its bonds and commercial paper. Through Feb. 5, 2001, SCE deferred payments aggregating $743 million due to the PX, ISO and QFs. Through Feb. 28, 2001, an additional $733 million will become due to these providers. Another $78 million is due to energy service providers through Feb. 15, 2001. The utility's bank groups have agreed to forbear taking action under their credit agreements until March 14. The utility will need to consider action before cure periods under certain unpaid bonds expire within the month. SCE has accumulated $1.4 billion in cash as of Feb. 5, which could be applied to make critical payments and prevent acceleration. SCE has paid interest on certain bonds before their cure periods expired. In addition, the utility will need to address its existing agreements with qualifying facility (QF) power producers. Many of these agreements have a variable cost component tied to natural gas prices, which currently exceed retail rates. As the state of California and its investor-owned utilities work to reform the power market, some restructuring of these contracts remains a possibility. The transmission proposal will require the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Energy Commission (FERC) and the California legislature. FERC approval could require many months to occur. Similar transactions may need to be executed with California's other investor-owned utilities, San Diego Gas and Electric Company, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company to assure passage of legislation. Any legislation to restructure California's power market also risks voter initiatives overturning these actions at a later date. Asset sale proceeds will almost halve the amount of previously incurred excess power costs, plus EIX plans to infuse $420 million into SCE as part of the overall agreement. Based on legislation passed earlier this month, the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) has now assumed future power purchase obligations until 2003. To recoup the remaining amount of uncollected costs, the tentative agreement includes a dedicated rate component permitting securitization at the utility company level. If an agreement is reached and approved by all parties, SCE will likely assume a somewhat different profile. Its generation is moving to a cost of service basis, which yields a regulated rate of return. SCE currently has an 11.6% authorized rate of return. Combined with the state owning the transmission infrastructure, SCE would become a more stable, less growth-oriented investment. Headquartered in Rosemead, Calif., SCE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Edison International (EIX). Serving 4.3 million customers, SCE's peak demand was 19,757 mw as of Sept. 30, 2000. The utility owns 10,430 mw of generation. Fitch currently rates these SCE securities: -- First Mortgage Bonds `B-`; -- Senior Unsecured Debt `CC'; -- Preferred Stock/QUIDS `C'; -- Commercial Paper `D'; -- Rating Watch Evolving. Prominent Tech Business Leaders Call for National Energy Reliability Initiative Business Wire 02/27/01, 11:20a (Copyright , 2001, Business Wire) DANBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2001-- Congress & Bush Administration Are Urged To Support Research For New Technologies In Electricity Generation and Distribution Leading energy associations and Fortune 500 companies have delivered a letter to Capitol Hill appropriations committees proposing that the U.S. Department of Energy create a $320 million National Energy Reliability Initiative for the 2002 fiscal year, specifically focused on the energy needs of the high-tech industry. The more than 20 prominent businesses and trade groups that signed the letter are urging U.S. House and Senate leaders, as well as the Bush Administration, to establish the federal initiative as a channel for public-private research in new energy technologies, including distributed generation and end-use improvements. The proposed National Energy Reliability Initiative program budget, along with a letter addressed to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, can be viewed at http://www.hi-availability.com/news.htm. According to National Energy Reliability Initiative supporters, power outages cost the nation nearly $50 billion annually. They back calls that the U.S. Department of Energy should support research, development and deployment of innovative energy systems so that America's information-based industries can remain competitive in the global economy. "High-tech businesses face tremendous financial risk from outages and brownouts because power fluctuations of only a few microseconds can bring computers and other sensitive systems to a crashing halt," says Patrick Hanley, president and CEO of Sure Power Corporation, a developer of next generation power systems and one of the more than 20 firms backing the letter. "As recent events in California have demonstrated, the nation's existing infrastructure cannot adequately meet the New Economy's need for high amounts of reliable, computer-grade electricity," Hanley notes. About Sure Power Corporation Sure Power Corporation, a privately-held company located in Danbury, Conn., delivers computer-grade electricity at "six 9s" availability and better, exceeding the highest availability levels required for mainframe computers and high-end servers. Its distributed generation systems are at the forefront of the onsite power industry. Spencer Trask, a New York City venture capital firm, owns a minority stake in the company. With Sure Power's high availability power systems, users realize substantially increased uptime, allowing for higher revenues and fewer unexpected losses. Sure Power has partnerships with both High-Point Rendel and R.W. Beck in the construction, planning and design of its systems. More information about Sure Power Corporation can be found at www.hi-availability.com. CONTACT: Sure Power Corporation Art Mannion, (203) 790-8996 amannion@hi-availability.com OR Sterling Hager, Inc. Jon Rucket, (617) 926-6665 ext. 369 jrucket@sterlinghager.com
|