Enron Mail

From:drew.fossum@enron.com
To:lorna.brennan@enron.com
Subject:Re: So Cal Edison Claims Withholding of Pipeline Capacity
Cc:steven.harris@enron.com, jeffery.fawcett@enron.com,lorraine.lindberg@enron.com, kevin.hyatt@enron.com, christine.stokes@enron.com, tk.lohman@enron.com, michelle.lokay@enron.com, lindy.donoho@enron.com, lee.huber@enron.com, susan.scott@enron.com, she
Bcc:steven.harris@enron.com, jeffery.fawcett@enron.com,lorraine.lindberg@enron.com, kevin.hyatt@enron.com, christine.stokes@enron.com, tk.lohman@enron.com, michelle.lokay@enron.com, lindy.donoho@enron.com, lee.huber@enron.com, susan.scott@enron.com, she
Date:Tue, 5 Sep 2000 06:17:00 -0700 (PDT)

Please get copies to me asap of the Edison motion and the CPUC FERC
complaint. Has someone, maybe someone at ENA, already looked at any
allegations about Enron or TW? Please forward these to Kathy Ringblom also
and I'll have her itemize any allegations we might want to repond to.
Thanks DF


ET & S Business Intelligence Department
From: Lorna Brennan on 09/05/2000 09:30 AM
To: Steven Harris/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Jeffery Fawcett/ET&S/Enron@ENRON,
Lorraine Lindberg/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Kevin Hyatt/ET&S/Enron@Enron, Christine
Stokes/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, TK Lohman/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Michelle
Lokay/ET&S/Enron@Enron, Lindy Donoho/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Lee
Huber/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Susan Scott/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Shelley
Corman/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Dari Dornan/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Maria
Pavlou/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Jim Talcott/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Drew
Fossum/ET&S/Enron@ENRON
cc:
Subject: So Cal Edison Claims Withholding of Pipeline Capacity

Edison Charges Gas Market Manipulation

Southern California Edison filed a motion late last week with the California
Public Utility Commission seeking emergency relief from high spot gas prices
on which its power purchase rates are based. The company told the CPUC that
Southern California Border (Topock, AZ) prices in the last month have risen
by $2.50/MMBtu possibly because of market manipulation, in particular the
withholding off of the market of pipeline transportation capacity between the
supply basins and the California border.

"[T]here is substantial and compelling evidence that the basis differential
has been and continues to be grossly distorted by market power abuse,
collusion and affiliate self dealing of out-of-state gas suppliers and
merchants," Edison told the CPUC.

The company noted the CPUC already has filed a Section 5 complaint with FERC
regarding this issue and is seeking a recision of "certain allegedly
collusive contracts which it contends have permitted out-of-state natural gas
suppliers and their affiliates to drive up artificially California border gas
prices by wrongfully withholding capacity." It notes the complaint
"conservatively estimates that the anti-competitive manipulation of the basis
differential has already damaged California gas and electricity users by $100
million annually since the beginning of 1998."

Edison seeks an expedited order authorizing it to use the posted gas price of
$4.5133/MMBtu, which was applied to SCE's August 2000 avoided cost posting,
to calculate its payment obligations to qualified power producers for the
month of October and every month going forward. It estimated September
bidweek border prices would average $7/MMBtu. If such prices were used in
Edison's September avoided costs posting, its Transition Formula payments to
certain independent power producers will be $29 million more than the month
prior, the company told the CPUC. "No mechanism exists to recapture the
increase in such payments if it is later determined by this commission or in
another forum that the Topock border indices are unreliable at this time."


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