Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Home on the range where the buffalo roam -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Boplicity who wrote (3934)	8/19/2000 8:23:02 PM
From: DOUG H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13572

Greg, I have friends who are small business owners in San Diego area who assure me they are not going to pay their bills 100% this month. 1/4 to 1/2, let the rest ride till the mess is sorted out. SDG&E's parent is facing revolt ENERGY: The company is expecting many people with dramatically higher bills to pay lesser amounts. August 19, 2000 By KATE BERRY The Orange County Register A revolt against high electricity bills and the resulting call for a rate rollback for customers of San Diego Gas & Electric could create financial headaches for Sempra Energy, SDG&E's parent. SDG&E said it expects a higher number of "uncollectable'' bills because of the revolt, with some customers sending in half-payments on their electricity bills at the urging of local politicians and community leaders. The combination of the revolt and the proposed rate rollback would hurt the company's cash flow and revenue collection, according to filings with the California Public Utilities Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. "The company has indicated that they expect higher unpayables this year,'' said Michael Heim, an analyst at A.G. Edwards, a brokerage. "They'll have to sit down with their accountants and decide what is an appropriate level of uncollectibles and how they will cover that.'' Customers of SDG&E aren't the only victims of the spike in electricity prices. The two other California utilities, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric, which have been paying open-market prices for electricity, are barred from passing those costs on to their customers until early 2002. They already are absorbing millions - if not billions - in rising electricity costs. The electricity crisis in California is a complicated one for both customers and state officials. Several short-term solutions are being proposed to ease the burden on ratepayers in San Diego and south Orange County. On Monday, the PUC will consider two plans to cut electricity rates and defer those costs to a so-called "balance account'' that would be paid later by ratepayers in the form of surcharges. SDG&E has said the proposals would cost the company $350 million to $1.4 billion. "From an earnings or cash-flow point of view, it would be a negative for Sempra,'' said Heim. What hasn't been addressed is how such a plan would affect Edison and PG&E, which are both much larger than SDG&E. Both those utilities support giving relief to customers who have seen their electricity bills roughly double in the past two months. But they declined to say whether they would favor a "balance account" plan. Gary Stern, director of market monitoring and analysis for Southern California Edison, said Edison, as a distributor of electricity, is working with state agencies to try to fix the market because it is "not workably competitive.'' "Customers need protection from high prices, and until the market is fully developed, some price protection is necessary,'' said Ron Low, a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric. ................................................. It will be the pick and shovel folks who win this one. Plants will get built because they HAVE to. The producers will be hit with price caps. D.H.

To: Boplicity who wrote (3934)	8/19/2000 8:41:02 PM
From: Chadick	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13572

Greg, Check my profile page and look at favorite links. You can click on Robert Loest; and a link I just added after reading Robert Loest-Capstone Turbine(CPST) A lot of information between the two sites and worth the time to read. Capstone is part of the new clean ,green, power industry. Just IPO'd and the chart looks like a cup and handle already and beginning to break upward on the top right side of the handle. Capstone MicroTurbines(TM) are used by (DYN)and (NRG) among others in new clean power on site electric generating installations-off the power grid,so you have clean, low maintenance, reliable power.Fuel can be natural gas,propane,kerosene,methane from land fills or waste sites. In the oil field they can be attached to a wellhead in the middle of nowhere and run off wellhead gas to provide electricity. You do not need to truck in diesel to run a generator.Largest customer is Williams Brothers(WMB). CEO of the company relates these small generators to the existing legacy power companies,as PC's have been to mainframes. PC's did not kill off mainframes,they became a new industry. Initial investors were Ben Rosen(Compaq Chairman?)and his brother. They brought in Paul Allen and Vulcan Ventures. I don't own this stock. I think I will start nibbling on it. I requested investor information from their web site. Investor site also has a link to a chart. Fred