Subject: Calif. allows SDG&E to strike bilateral power deals.
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Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 08:33:00 -0700 (PDT)

USA: Calif. allows SDG&E to strike bilateral power deals.
  
09/21/2000 
Reuters English News Service 
(C) Reuters Limited 2000. 
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 21 (Reuters) - California regulators on Thursday approved 
an order allowing utility San Diego Gas and Electric to buy power through 
bilateral contracts. 
The utility had previously been mandated to buy all its power through the 
Pasadena-based California Power Exchange. 
The contracts can be for up to five years and must expire by December 31, 
2005. The amount of power that can be bought is limited but a CPUC spokesman 
could not immediately confirm details of the restriction. 
Last month, the California Public Utilities Commission allowed the state's 
other two investor owned utilities, Rosemead-based Southern California Edison 
and San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric to buy power on bilateral 
contracts under similar terms. 
Wholesale electricity prices have risen to record levels this year, resulting 
in sharply higher power bills for SDG&E customers, who were the first in the 
nation to pay market-based prices without a safety net. 
The price spike for customers was exacerbated by a lack of hedging by SDG&E. 
The CPUC's move to allow bilateral contracts is seen as part of an attempt to 
encourage more hedging. 
San Diego Gas and Electric is a unit of Sempra Energy , Southern California 
Edison a subsidiary of Edison International and Pacific Gas and Electric a 
unit of PG&E Corp .