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Enron Mail |
USA: Con Ed Urges FERC to Fix N.Y. Wholesale Electric Market
Reuters English News Service, 01/23/2001 Enron to Webcast Annual Investor Conference PR Newswire, 01/23/2001 USA: U.S. Cash LPG - Market Drops on Softer NYMEX Nat Gas Reuters English News Service, 01/23/2001 California Regulators May Block Sales of Nevada Power Plants Asociated Press Newswires, 01/23/2001 USA: Con Ed urges FERC to fix N.Y. wholesale electric market. 01/23/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Consolidated Edison Inc. , in an effort to protect its more than three million electric customers, urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to adopt mechanisms to reduce price spikes. At the opening of a two-day FERC hearing in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 22-23, Con Ed said in a statement it called for changes in the way the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) administers the electric wholesale marketplace. The NYISO was the entity authorized by the FERC to administer the state's competitive wholesale electric market. In addition, Con Ed called on the FERC to correct market flaws that allow power generators to exercise market power, and penalize those generators shown to be gaming the market to their own advantage. "The NYISO must take corrective action quickly to protect consumers and to assure them that the markets are indeed functioning efficiently and competitively," Con Ed said in its remarks. Con Ed is an holding company based in New York City that provides energy-related products and services through two regulated utility subsidiaries - Con Ed of New York Inc. and Orange and Rockland Electric Co. - and four competitive energy and telecommunications businesses. Con Ed proposed a new "circuit breaker" mechanism to hold prices down when the wholesale electric market was not competitive, which could occur when usage was high and power supplies were extremely tight. The circuit breaker would help prevent unreasonable price volatility. "Relative to estimated costs to produce energy, the energy markets frequently do not produce prices that are competitive, Con Ed said in its remarks to the FERC. Moreover, Con Ed said customers should be eligible for retroactive refunds if a power generator abuses the system and charges more than a competitive price. "Our customers must be protected from uncompetitive energy prices this summer," Con Ed of New York Inc. President Kevin Burke said. "There must be strong consumer protection tools in place when the marketplace is not truly competitive." "More generation sources will produce additional competition in the supply of electricity, resulting in lower costs to consumers. But until the new plants get on line, customers need additional protection from uncompetitive, inflated prices," Burke added. Since 1997, Con Ed said it has been reducing the portion of the electric bill it controls - the delivery of electrical power. Under an agreement approved by the New York State Public Service Commission last year, Con Ed was providing an additional $1.5 billion of reductions in delivery rates, which followed $1.1 billion in rate reductions granted in the 1997 agreement. These new reductions will be in effect at least until 2005. The average Con Ed residential customer will save an additional $50 in 2001. The average large commercial customer will save about $1,000. However, the cost to Con Ed of buying electricity from power generators in the wholesale market has risen dramatically, which has in turn driven up customers' total energy costs because Con Ed passes those costs onto its customers. .............................................................................. ....................................................... ? Enron to Webcast Annual Investor Conference 01/23/2001 PR Newswire (Copyright © 2001, PR Newswire) HOUSTON, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Enron Corp. (NYSE: ENE) will be hosting its annual investor conference on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2001. The meeting will be webcast live at www.enron.com, starting at 8:00 a.m. (CST). Please contact 888-457-7469 if you need assistance connecting to the webcast. Enron is one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas and communications companies. The company, with revenues of $101 billion in 2000, markets electricity and natural gas, delivers physical commodities and financial and risk management services to customers around the world, and has developed an intelligent network platform to facilitate online business. Fortune magazine has named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for five consecutive years, the top company for "Quality of Management" and the second best company for "Employee Talent." Enron's Internet address is www.enron .com. The stock is traded under the ticker symbol "ENE". Contact: Joannie Williamson of Enron Corp., (713) 853-6021 USA: U.S. Cash LPG - Market drops on softer NYMEX nat gas. 01/23/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - U.S. liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas liquid (NGL) prices dropped early Tuesday, tracking weakening natural gas futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), players said. Conway, Kan. propane lost around a nickel to 78.50 cents a gallon in see-saw trade, while losing 3.75 cents to 76.25/77.00 cents a gallon in Mont Belvieu, Texas, traders said. "The market is puking today, with gas down" said one Midwest trader. "Natural gas was the only thing propane was hanging its hat on, and now that's falling." Midday, NYMEX natural gas futures were trading 47.70 cents lower at $6.98 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) amid continuing warm weather forecasts. Crude oil futures were down 63 cents to $29.17 a barrel on profit-taking ahead of the release of weekly industry stock data later in the afternoon. Conway isobutane, which soared to trade above $1.10 cents a gallon last week, subsided, dropping 12.25 cents to 86.00/89.75 cents a gallon on the day, players said. The sudden drops over the last two days were interpreted by players to mean that a few dealers were caught short last week, and dismissed talk of a supply shortage in the region. Belvieu isobutane was talked 1.75 cents weaker to be offered at 79.00 cents a gallon, dealers said. Meanwhile, ethanes also suffered heavy losses, with mix down 3.50 cents to be offered at 56.25 cents a gallon in Conway, and down 4.25 cents in Belvieu at 57.75 cents a gallon. Belvieu purity lost 2.25 cents to trade at 59.75 cents a gallon. Normal butane lost a nickel in Conway to talk at 80.00/83.00 cents a gallon, while losing 3.25 cents to trade at 79.75 cents a gallon in Belvieu, dealers said. Natural gasoline lost a notional 1.75 cents to be offered at 82.50 cents a gallon for Enron barrels in Texas, while Kansas product lost 1.25 cents to talk at 83.00/84.50 cents a gallon, traders said. - ((Soo Youn, New York Energy Desk, 212-859-1621)). California regulators may block sales of Nevada power plants 01/23/2001 Associated Press Newswires Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. LAS VEGAS (AP) - The parent company of Nevada Power Co. says California regulators might stop it from selling its northern Nevada power plants. Sierra Pacific Resources told investors on Monday that if the deal is blocked it'll be harder to finance its $3.1 billion dollar acquisition of General Electric of Oregon from Enron Corp. "It's more difficult if you can't sell the plants than if you can," said Steve Rigazio, Nevada Power president. Las Vegas-based Nevada Power and Reno-based Sierra Pacific want to sell all but two of their electricity generation plants. State and federal regulators ordered the companies to sell as a condition of their 1999 merger. But with power shortages, price spikes and rolling blackouts plaguing the West Coast, California legislators last week ordered California utilities not to sell power plants before January 2006. The new law might prevent Sierra Pacific Power from selling its power plants because it serves 40,000 customers in California's Lake Tahoe area. Nevada Power said the California law might also block its sale of the Mohave power station at Laughlin, Nev., for $134 million to AES Corp. Southern California Edison, the majority owner of Mohave, could be blocked by the California law. The Nevada utility wants to sell two groups of power plants for $545 million and has a third power plant on the sales block. Nevada's Legislature, which opens Feb. 5, might also prohibit power plant sales. The Southern Nevada Water Authority board, made up of elected city and county officials, last week voted to oppose Nevada power plant sales. The officials want to keep the plants as safeguards against high electricity prices. Tim Hay, chief of the attorney general's Bureau of Consumer Protection also said this month that the state's coal-fired power plants should not be sold. Hay argued that the coal plants could provide at least a minimum amount of low-cost electricity to Nevada homes and businesses.
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