Subject: Re: EMERGENCY CONFERENCE REGARDING CALIFORNIA -- 10/21/2000 -- FINAL CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS INPUT
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 04:14:00 -0700 (PDT)

Thanks, Jim.  We'll monitor.

Best,
Jeff

From: James Trudeau on 09/13/2000 10:51 AM
To: Douglas Huth/HOU/EES@EES, David Parquet/SF/ECT@ECT, Martin 
Wenzel/SFO/HOU/EES@EES, Jeff Dasovich/SFO/EES@EES, Susan J Mara/SFO/EES@EES
cc: Ram Mukherji/HOU/EES@EES, David L Duffy/HOU/EES@EES, Tony 
Spruiell/HOU/EES@EES 
Subject: EMERGENCY CONFERENCE REGARDING CALIFORNIA -- 10/21/2000 -- FINAL 
CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS INPUT

I have worked closely with Anthony Mazy (Calif Public Utility Comm - Office 
of Ratepayer Advocates) in the past, and he asked me to provide input from 
Enron with our perspective on the energy mess in California for a conference 
they are putting together in October.  (Prior to joining EES I trained the 
CPUC ORA staff on a variety of issues and have earned their trust.)  However, 
I feel that the Enron input into this CPUC conference would be more 
appropriately provided by other members of the EES & ENA team, so I wanted to 
pass this email along to you for your review and action as needed.  

Let me know if my relationship with Anthony and other members of the CPUC 
staff could be useful in advancing Enron's positions at this conference.

Jim Trudeau
Director, Power Quality Services
(530) 518-9789

---------------------- Forwarded by James Trudeau/SFO/EES on 09/13/2000 08:23 
AM ---------------------------

"Mazy, Anthony" <[email-masked]> on 09/11/2000 11:38:08 PM
To: 
cc: "[email-masked]'" <[email-masked]> 
Subject: EMERGENCY CONFERENCE REGARDING CALIFORNIA -- 10/21/2000 -- FINAL 
CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS INPUT

CONFERENCE:? " THE CALIFORNIA DISASTER: LESSONS LEARNED " 
??????????????????????????????????????????????????? (Working Title) 

DATE:????????????????????????????????? Saturday,? October 21, 2000 

LOCATION:?????????????????????? University of California, Berkeley 

The CPUC Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) together with the University of 
California is organizing a special conference, Saturday October 21, 2000, to 
address the current wholesale electricity market situation, as manifest in 
San Diego, and in light of both the economic framework and industrial 
realities in which utility restructuring is taking place.

We wish to emphasize the importance of maintaining consistent and predictable 
forward progress with the restructuring of the electric services industry, 
while remediating structural shortcomings as they appear.? The need for a 
quick and effective response to the cost escalation in California is urgent.? 
Meanwhile, we do not want to overlook emerging generation and information 
technologies and their appropriate role in an increasingly competitive energy 
and utility sector.

Your input is urgently requested to develop the detailed agenda for this 
workshop/conference.? We have had the opportunity to speak with some of you 
directly, and we appreciate your comments.? We are presently concluding 
negotiations with key national observers to be participants, and must 
complete the detailed agenda this week.? If you have any further topical 
insights to share with us, I must have your input no later than 4:00 p.m. 
Pacific time, Thursday, September 14.? (By 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, if at all 
possible.)

Let me emphasize that today we are only concerned with conceptual, topical 
content, so please do not trouble yourselves with highly "stylized" 
presentations.?? Our immediate objective is to release a preliminary program, 
with a partial list of key participants, by Monday, September 18th, that we 
believe is likely to secure the active support of a wide range of industry 
stakeholders.? We plan to distribute a final program by Monday, September 
25th.

Please suggest topical areas that you can help develop, or believe are 
essential to the success of this program.? We will be particularly interested 
in your informed, practical insights into:

the daily operations of the electric services industry, from various 
perspectives, that help clarify problems and distinguish truly problematic 
issues from those misunderstood,

the political and legislative processes in California, as they may tend to 
suggest effective courses of action to promote short-term market 
accommodations that are consistent with, and constructive toward, long-term 
goals for industry restructuring,

case studies from other jurisdictions that shed light on the probable 
response of California's institutions to any of the various proposed 
solutions currently circulating,

case studies of anachronistic or otherwise inefficient industry practices 
impeding development, interconnection, or operation of distributed 
generation, or the sale or other transfer of the energy produced,

case studies of market power abuse, or gaming, in both transmission and 
generation, 

proposals for innovative treatment of cost-effective emerging generation 
and/or information technologies, 

proposals for developing greater diversity of generation technologies and/or 
energy providers within the state, 

otherwise appropriate technical, economic, or regulatory principles and 
practices that are being misrepresented in the academic, trade, or popular 
press or other media, 

distinguishing informational difficulties or factual disagreements from 
policy conflicts or conflicts of interest, and 

specific suggestions for speakers who are particularly effective in 
addressing specific key issues or establishing confidence with the target 
audiences.

Attendance at this conference/workshop will be limited, with approximately 
one-half of the seats reserved for key policymakers and/or their aides, key 
agency staff, and the speakers.? The remaining seats will be allocated among 
interested consumer representatives, manufacturers, vendors, developers, and 
other end-users, and local government and community and business 
representatives.? We presently envision the conference to include one or two 
key speakers, with four panels of three to seven persons each addressing 
specific topics.? We are also reserving facilities for Friday evening to 
address topical seminars requested by decisionmakers and/or their key staff 
and additional facilities for Sunday morning when the information technology 
and distributed generation communities will be invited to provide additional 
follow-on to questions and comments offered by key policymakers on Saturday.

Some have commented that we should have started this as much as a year ago.? 
Unfortunately, a year ago we did not know that today we would have doubled 
and tripled consumer energy bills or a $250/MWH wholesale price cap, much 
less an intense, across-the-board attack on electric restructuring by some 
parties.? We are especially concerned about the efforts of some distribution 
utilities to establish a foothold in DG, the efforts of some utilities and 
the independent system operator to restrict distribution-level wheeling and 
the aggregation it would facilitate, and the latest proposal to reintegrate 
metering into the distribution utility after it was successfully unbundled 
for the benefit of competitive Energy Service Providers.? Likewise, language 
in recent legislation echoing regulatory arguments for retrenchment cannot be 
brushed aside.? 

We understand the difficulty of organizing such an event on less than two 
months notice, but we also appreciate the importance of the subject, as we 
are sure you do as well.? We are committed to preparing an event worthy of 
the time and attention of both key national observers and top-ranked 
California policymakers in the executive, legislative, and regulatory arenas, 
and we would welcome your active assistance.? 

If you have any questions, you are welcomed to call me, at 415-703-3036 from 
9:30 AM to 5:30 PM Pacific time.? For those with particularly busy schedules 
or time zone considerations, you are welcomed to call me at my personal 
telephone 925-855-0554 from 5:30 to 7:30 AM Pacific time.