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Enron Mail |
Steve:
I'll toot my horn on this one. The speeches we have been doing for Ken ranging from corporate culture to getting markets open are doing what they are supposed to do. On another matter, I cast my vote for a "knowledge manager" to replace Margaret. If I had a full time position instead of a rotating analyst, this person could maybe double up and gain the institutional knowledge that Margaret accumulated. I think Rita Hartfield would be good in this position and would work well with Joan and me. I would also expect Rita to work efficiently on a variety of hot issues--including writing which she is proficient at. - Rob ----- Forwarded by Rob Bradley/Corp/Enron on 04/05/2001 12:22 PM ----- Aleck Dadson@ECT 04/05/2001 10:13 AM To: Rob Bradley/Corp/Enron@ENRON cc: Subject: Re: Article: Enron calls on Ontario to open power market quickly Rob, the speech could not have gone better. It was published as an op-ed this morning by one of the two majors. Thanks for all your help and your very very useful advice re the structure and content of Ken Lay's remarks. Ursula Brenner@ENRON 04/04/2001 05:43 PM To: Aleck Dadson/TOR/ECT@ECT cc: Richard Shapiro/NA/Enron@Enron, Rob Bradley/Corp/Enron@ENRON Subject: Article: Enron calls on Ontario to open power market quickly Rob Bradley asked me to forward this article to you. Ursula Brenner Enron calls on Ontario to open power market quickly April 04, 2001 12:36:00 PM ET By Scott Anderson TORONTO, April 4 (Reuters) - Enron Corp. (ENE), North America's biggest buyer and seller of natural gas and electricity, put pressure on the Ontario government on Wednesday to deregulate the provincial energy market, Canada's biggest, as quickly as possible. Ontario has already pushed back its previous deadline of November 2000 by one year to sort out its deregulation problems and avoid the problems encountered by California in energy deregulation. The delays have frustrated potential corporate players. "We think the right thing for Ontario is to move ahead with this plan, open the markets and get them working," Kenneth Lay, Enron's chairman, said at a breakfast speech at the Toronto Board of Trade. "Let people start building the new power plants and, of course, providing a lot of the types of services we provide elsewhere." Lay warned that the longer the government drags its feet on the issue, the more it places itself at risk of scaring off potential investors. "The delays continue to create uncertainty and uncertainty tends to discourage investment," Lay told reporters. "By discouraging investment, as the market keeps growing, it could be that Ontario is going to have a tough time keeping up with the needs of the economy." Enron plans to build a $250-million generating plant near the southwestern Ontario town of Sarnia, but has delayed the project until Ontario sets a firm date for deregulation. Lay said Enron is "committed to Ontario" even though other companies have said they will move to other jurisdictions if the government does not open up the market by the fall. He said Ontario is far better prepared for deregulation than was California. "I think what California shows is that if you're going to do it, you've got to do it right. And California did it wrong," he told reporters. "Increasingly politicians are understanding that. You can't deregulate half the market, but not the other half. You can't set up a system that does not allow price signals to be sent to consumers and even after prices go up, you can't just keep shielding consumers from price signals and get no response." Power demand from California's industries and 32 million residents has increased dramatically, but the state has not seen any new generating capacity added in about 10 years. The crisis there has been blamed on California's own 1996 power deregulation law, which required utilities to buy energy on the spot market, where prices have skyrocketed, but maintained caps on the rates they could charge consumers. The problem was then compounded by California's own surging demand, resulting in the rolling blackouts and voluntary power cutbacks of the past months. , 2001 Reuters
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