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Enron Mail |
To: Tim Belden/HOU/ECT@ECT, Greg Wolfe@ECT, Mike Swerzbin/HOU/ECT@ECT,
Christopher F Calger/PDX/ECT@ECT, Dave Parquet, Richard Sanders, mday@gmssr.com, gfergus@brobeck.com, Christian Yoder/HOU/ECT@ECT, steve.c.hall@enron.com, Chris H Foster/HOU/ECT@ECT, Stewart Rosman/HOU/ECT@ECT, John M Forney/HOU/ECT@ECT, Joe Hartsoe@Enron, Sarah Novosel/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Jeff Dasovich/NA/Enron@Enron, Susan J Mara/NA/Enron@Enron, Alan Comnes/PDX/ECT@ECT, Paul Kaufman/PDX/ECT@ECT, Steve Kean, Richard Shapiro, James D Steffes/NA/Enron@Enron, Donna Fulton/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Mona L Petrochko/NA/Enron@Enron, James E Keller/HOU/EES@EES, Mike D Smith/HOU/EES@EES, Harry Kingerski/NA/Enron@Enron, Dennis Benevides, Jeff Richter/HOU/ECT@ECT, Robert Badeer/HOU/ECT@ECT, Tim Heizenrader/PDX/ECT@ECT, Chris Stokley/HOU/ECT@ECT, Murray P O'Neil/HOU/ECT@ECT, David Aamodt@Gateway, Jay Dudley, Neil Bresnan/HOU/EES@EES, Vicki Sharp/HOU/EES@EES, Kathryn Corbally/Corp/Enron@ENRON cc: From: Mary Hain/HOU/ECT Date: 11/10/2000 04:00:40 PM Subject: Fwd: DJ - Calif PUC Unlikely To Order Refunds From Pwr Generators Please forward this to anyone I have forgotten. Thanks. DJ Calif PUC Unlikely To Order Refunds From Pwr Generators Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (This article was originally published Thursday) LOS ANGELES (Dow Jones)--The California Public Utilities Commission likely won't order generators to refund billions of dollars in windfall profits from last summer's wholesale power price spikes to utilities and customers, commissioners told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday. A Republican commissioner said the PUC knows generators are manipulating the wholesale power market in California but the commission doesn't have the "expertise in-house to figure out who it is and how it's being done." "Even if we could force refunds, it would take five to 10 years in court to decide if generators should refund money," the commissioner said. "I don't think the state is willing to spend the money or the time." In addition, the commission is nowhere near deciding whether Edison International (EIX) unit Southern California Edison and PG&E Corp. (PCG) unit Pacific Gas & Electric can pass on a combined $5 billion in debt to their ratepayers, the commissioner said. A decision won't likely be made until mid-2001, the commissioner added. Only PUC President Loretta Lynch and Commissioner Carl Wood support having generators refund windfall profits to utilities and ratepayers. The commission's investigation, one of two ongoing probes into the state's troubled wholesale power market, has been unsuccessful in finding evidence that would force generators to refund billions of dollars, according to documents obtained Thursday by Dow Jones Newswires. Last week, federal regulators determined generators didn't manipulate the market. But they did find flaws in the state's market structure and said rates were "unjust and unreasonable." The state's Independent System Operator and Power Exchange have also concluded they have no evidence to prove generators manipulated the market in order to drive up wholesale power prices. The commissioner said the PUC doesn't support the utilities' efforts to pass on $5 billion in wholesale power costs to ratepayers. The commissioner said "if it came down to deciding tomorrow, the utilities would be left holding the bag." PG&E and SoCal Edison pay about 16 cents a kilowatt-hour for wholesale power. But the utilities charge their customers far less under a state-mandated rate freeze. As reported earlier Thursday, SoCal Edison President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Frank said the utility's inability to immediately recover more than $2 billion in debt from its ratepayers may force the company to lay off employees and reduce major capital spending. PG&E filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday asking a judge to allow the utility to pass on $3 billion in debt to its customers. -By Jason Leopold, Dow Jones Newswires; 323-658-3874; mailto:jason.leopold@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-11-00
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