Subject: Re: Energy rate relief bill gets OK
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 05:16:00 -0700 (PDT)

Hey, the last I heard -- Tuesday -- there wasn't going to be any legislation 
--  and that's why the Gov and Lynch were taking their strong and ugly 
stances? Whast happened?

Did we try to get some language in there?  Seems as if we were out-played

Jeff Dasovich on 08/11/2000 09:58:07 AM
To: Richard Shapiro/HOU/EES@EES, Steve Kean, Sandra McCubbin/SFO/EES@EES, 
Mona L Petrochko/SFO/EES@EES, Susan J Mara/SFO/EES@EES, Karen 
Denne/Corp/Enron@Enron, Peggy Mahoney/HOU/EES@EES, [email-masked], James D 
Steffes/HOU/EES@EES, Paul Kaufman@EES, Mary Hain@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Joe 
Hartsoe/Corp/Enron@Enron, Cynthia Sandherr/Corp/Enron@Enron, Sarah 
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cc:  
Subject: Energy rate relief bill gets OK
State Senate passes rollback; legislation to go to Assembly

Energy rate relief bill gets OK
State Senate passes rollback; legislation to go to Assembly
By Ed Mendel 
STAFF WRITER 
August 11, 2000 

SACRAMENTO -- The state Senate approved legislation yesterday that would cut 
San Diego's soaring electric bills by half and could credit consumers for 
excess rates paid since June 1. 
The measure, if passed by the Assembly and signed by the governor, would 
reduce bills to the level San Diego Gas & Electric Co. customers were paying 
in July 1999. While customer payments would be cut in half, however, SDG&E 
ratepayers could be liable in several years for the balance. 
The credit to consumers would hinge on a finding of improper overcharges by 
power companies. 
The rollback-and-reimbursement measure -- carried by two San Diego Democrats, 
Sen. Dede Alpert and Assemblywoman Susan Davis -- sailed out of the Senate 
with support from 24 Democrats and four Republicans. 
All three of the Republicans who represent parts of San Diego County voted 
for the bill. The 27th vote needed for two-thirds approval of the urgency 
measure came from Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside. 
"We have a dysfunctional market that is not working and has been just so 
incredibly painful for the people I represent," Alpert told the Senate. "We 
need your help. We need it now." 
San Diego is the first area of the state fully affected by deregulation 
legislation enacted four years ago. But other areas will be deregulated 
within two years, and legislators do not want soaring rates in their 
districts. 
A vote on the Alpert-Davis bill in the Assembly was delayed for at least a 
week because of potential opposition from Republicans. Gov. Gray Davis, who 
is proposing a similar reduction that would not be retroactive to June 1, has 
taken no position on the bill. 
"It's important to keep this bill moving along," said Morrow, who said he 
struggled with the vote because the bill does nothing to speed up the 
construction of new power plants. 
The bill, AB 2290, would cut rates to the July 1, 1999, level and make the 
reduction retroactive to June 1 of this year. State and federal regulatory 
agencies would be asked to determine if San Diego ratepayers have been 
improperly overcharged. 
In the years ahead, San Diego ratepayers could be reimbursed for high rates 
paid this summer through a credit that would lower their monthly bills -- but 
only if the investigation finds an improper overcharge and that repayment can 
be collected from those responsible. 
Alpert said the cost of the credit could be born by energy generators for 
overcharging, SDG&E for failing to make cheaper energy purchases, and the 
state and federal government for not protecting ratepayers. 
"I don't think anybody believes anybody is going to be 100 percent 
responsible for this," Alpert said. 
The governor Wednesday asked the Public Utilities Commission to meet Aug. 21 
and reduce rates for SDG&E customers by half, dropping a typical residential 
bill from the current level of $120 a month to $65. 
The governor's plan is similar to the Alpert-Davis bill, but it's not 
retroactive to June 1 and would take effect this month. Critics of the 
governor's plan doubt that an investigation will result in the recovery of an 
overcharge from generators, marketers or SDG&E. 
Nettie Hoge, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, said that what 
Davis has proposed is likely to be not a true rate reduction, but simply a 
plan to spread the payment of high rates over several years. 
"San Diegans can't afford a pay now and pay later scheme," Hoge said. "They 
are in the midst of an economic and public health crisis." 
The Alpert-Davis bill needs at least six Republican votes for approval in the 
Assembly. Alpert said two Assembly Republicans representing parts of San 
Diego, Charlene Zettel of Poway and Pat Bates of Laguna Niguel, support the 
bill and are listed as co-authors. 
She hopes to get support from three other San Diego County Republicans: Steve 
Baldwin of El Cajon, Howard Kaloogian of Encinitas and Bruce Thompson of 
Fallbrook. 
Assembly GOP Leader Scott Baugh of Huntington Beach said the bill should be 
heard in committees, rather than simply put up for a vote on the house floors 
without public hearings. 
"To just ram through a rate rollback, a rate freeze and a rate reimbursement 
does nothing to address the underlying problems that created the energy 
shortage," he said. 
Baugh said he would like a discussion of the contention by some that rebate 
checks that began going out to SDG&E customers this week will solve much of 
the problem this year. 
He said standby generators could be built within six months to provide power 
in periods of peak demand to protect San Diegans from high rates next summer. 
The rebate checks are a $390 million refund for overcharges related to 
deregulation and amount to $260 for the average household. An additional $100 
million refund will take the form of a credit on bills for August and 
September, totaling $34 for the typical residence. 
At a legislative committee hearing on deregulation, Sen. Steve Peace, D-El 
Cajon, clashed with Loretta Lynch, president of the Public Utilities 
Commission. He said the refund checks only go to residences and small 
businesses, not medium-sized businesses hurt by high rates. 

Copyright 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.