Subject: Re: California Lawmakers Vote to Limit Power Costs - WSJ
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 03:45:00 -0700 (PDT)

'98 San Diego system averages:
9.4 cents     Total rate
6.1 cents      Power Supply portion, of which 1/4 was purchased power @ 3.0
cents and 3/4 was generation @9.1 cents.

Steven J Kean@ENRON
09/01/2000 08:27 AM

Sent by:  Steven J Kean@ENRON

To:   Susan J Mara/SFO/EES@EES, Jeff Dasovich/SFO/EES@EES, Sandra
      McCubbin/SFO/EES@EES, Mona L Petrochko/SFO/EES@EES
cc:   Gavin Dillingham/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Harry
      Kingerski/HOU/EES@EES, Richard Shapiro/HOU/EES@EES, James D
      Steffes/HOU/EES@EES
Subject:  California Lawmakers Vote to Limit Power Costs - WSJ

Look at this.  Baum finally speaks up  -- way too late.
Can somebody tell me what SDG&E's energy rate was pre-dereg?
---------------------- Forwarded by Steven J Kean/NA/Enron on 09/01/2000
08:24 AM ---------------------------

 (Embedded
 image moved
 to file:      From:  Ann M Schmidt
 pic19169.pcx) 09/01/2000 07:57 AM

To:   Karen Denne/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Mark Palmer/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Steven J
      Kean/NA/Enron@Enron, Meredith Philipp/Corp/Enron@ENRON
cc:

Subject:  California Lawmakers Vote to Limit Power Costs - WSJ

F.Y.I.

  California Lawmakers Vote to Limit Power Costs
  By Rebecca Smith

  09/01/2000
  The Wall Street Journal
  Page A4
  (Copyright (c) 2000, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

  California lawmakers voted to extend modest relief to San Diego residents
burdened with
  high electricity bills and set the groundwork for faster construction of
badly needed power
  plants. They stopped short, however, of passing legislation that would
roll back retail power
  rates to levels seen prior to deregulation .

  Late Wednesday, lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Gray Davis that limits to
6.5 cents per
  kilowatt hour the amount that small customers of San Diego Gas & Electric
Co. can be
  charged. The utility is allowed to add power-delivery and other
reasonable costs to that
  commodity price.

  The price, equivalent to a bulk power cost of $65 per megawatt hour, is
far higher than the
  average price of power for 27 of the 31 months in which California's
market has been
  deregulated. But in June and July, the average price of power obtained by
the utility from a
  state-sanctioned energy auction rose to 12 cents and 10.5 cents,
respectively, compared
  with the 2.3 cents and 2.8 cents charged in those months a year earlier.

  Passed directly through to customers,the resulting bills sparked a near
mutiny. The
  rate-cap measure applies to residential and small commercial customers,
as well as to
  schools and hospitals.

  In addition to the rate cap, which can be adjusted upward or downward by
the California
  Public Utilities Commission until December 2002, the legislature
earmarked $150 million of
  general-fund revenue, which can be used to subsidize San Diego power
costs if they greatly
  exceed the 6.5-cents-per-kilowatt-hour rate. For now, the utility would
be expected to make
  up any difference between revenue collected and the actual cost.

  Steve Baum, chairman of Sempra Energy, parent of San Diego Gas & Electric
Co., said the
  rate-cap measure is "deeply flawed" because it limits the amount prices
can rise but sets
  no floor. That means any shortfall could grow -- without a mechanism for
customers to pay
  it down -- until the end of the rate-cap period, which could last until
December 2002 or
  December 2003.

  Mr. Baum said Sempra stands to suffer an undercollection of perhaps $664
million, provided
  future prices approximate the New York Mercantile Exchange forward prices
through
  December 2002. "It's irreparably damaging to Sempra," he said because it
"creates
  tremendous uncertainty" that makes it hard for the San Diego energy
company to finance
  new projects such as a new transmission line.

  The legislature also appeared likely to approve a bill speeding up the
permit process for the
  construction of new power plants, in part by beefing up staffs of
regulatory agencies that
  review the plans.

  Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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