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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (7349)	12/27/2000 10:04:15 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Respond to of 19428

Castro?! The Nippons also have much exercise with "nationalizing" co's (banks in that case). Didn't help either,...

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (7349)	12/28/2000 10:14:07 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Respond to of 19428

Nader says Calif. utitilies should be allowed to fail (UPDATE: recasts, adds detail) By Leonard Anderson SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Green party leader Ralph Nader stepped into California's power crisis on Thursday, urging consumers to resist what he called a ``coerced bailout'' of the state's utilities and saying the financially strapped companies should be allowed to fail. ``It's clear that deregulation has failed ... California consumers now face a coerced bailout of the utilities or their bankruptcy,'' he told reporters outside hearings on rate hikes utilities say are needed to preserve their ability to fund operations and buy power. Bankruptcy by the public utilities need not disrupt electric service in California since their operations would be taken over by the courts, and ultimately the state, Nader said. The comments came on the second day of hearings by the California Public Utilities Commission during which the two major utility companies continue to hammer away at their case for rate hikes of up to 30 percent. Earlier on Thursday Calif. Gov Gray Davis, who has blamed the threat of utility bankruptcies for disrupting power sales to the state, spoke by telephone with the top executives of Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and consumer groups, who remain strongly opposed to the proposed rate hikes. ``It was a frank exchange of views,'' said Mike Florio, attorney for consumer group The Utility Reform Network (TURN), who said further meetings are likely. ``A bailout is unacceptable. The ratepayers of California should not pay a penny more for the mistakes made by utilities,'' said Harvey Rosenfield of The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, who said the utilities should look to their parent companies for help. Southern California Edison is a unit of Edison International (NYSE:EIX - news) while Pacific Gas and Electric is a subsidiary of PG&E Corp (NYSE:PCG - news). GOVERNOR'S FUTURE ``HANGS BY A FEW KILOWATT HOURS'' Nader, who drew 4 percent of the California vote in his failed presidential bid, said Davis' political career ``hangs by a few kilowatt hours'' and said the governor and the state legislature must return to a form of price controls for electricity based on costs. Wholesale power prices have skyrocketed in California this year and Pacific Gas and Electric is seeking to raise rates for customers by an initial average of 26 percent while Southern California Edison wants a 30-percent hike. The California Public Utilities Commission opened hearings on Wednesday on whether to lift a freeze on the rates the two utilities charge. That freeze was imposed as part of the landmark legislation which deregulated California's markets. The utilities have run up billions of dollars in power purchase costs this year which they have been unable to pass on to customers due to the rate freeze. The resulting cash crisis has taken them to the verge of bankruptcy. At the end of November the shortfall stood at $7.7 billion, comprising $3.2 billion for Southern California Edison and $4.5 billion for Pacific Gas and Electric. Nader said that under any utility bankruptcy the state of California could eventually step in and run the system. He said California should look to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) as models of how to ``put human need over corporate greed.'' LADWP, the nation's largest municipal utility, is able to produce more than enough power to meet its needs and has been able to maintain stable prices and even plans a future rate cut while its investor-owned counterparts struggle, Nader said. Last week credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said the two utilities risk running out of cash ``within a matter of weeks'' and warned it could downgrade debt ratings to junk status unless urgent action was taken. CONSERVATION INCENTIVES In Thursday's testimony before the CPUC, a leading state lawmaker called for a new rate structure which would encourage power conservation by making heavy users pay proportionally more. ``I urge you to look at rate changes that could help save dollars via conservation steps,'' said Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach), chair of the state Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications committee. Bowen said encouraging conservation was ``the cheapest, cleanest way to meet the state's power needs.'' A chronic shortage of electricity has led to skyrocketing wholesale power prices in California this year. There have been accusations that the shortage has led to ``price gouging'' by power producers. The CPUC hearings on the proposed rate hikes continue Friday. A decision is expected on January 4.

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (7349)	1/17/2001 8:23:08 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

PG&E Becomes Second Calif. Utility to Default By Jonathan Stempel .... also see: msnbc.com ..... NEW YORK (Reuters) - PG&E Corp. (NYSE:PCG - news) said on Wednesday that it and its Pacific Gas and Electric Co. unit defaulted on $76 million of commercial paper, and that the state's largest utility will be unable to trade with California's major power distributor as of Friday. PG&E and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. also said they are in default under some of their credit lines, and that their lenders refused to allow them on Tuesday from drawing on two of those lines. The California Power Exchange arranges the distribution of power in that state. The announcement, in mirror filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, came on a day the California Independent System Operator, which runs most of the state's transmission grid, enacted rolling blackouts throughout the state in a desperate bid to avoid overloading the grid. It also came one day after Southern California Edison, the state's No. 2 utility, said it defaulted on $596 million of payments to bondholders and other creditors. The default by San Francisco-based PG&E and Pacific G&E marks just the third time in the last six years that a U.S. company has defaulted on commercial paper, or short-term debt. Pacific G&E and SoCal Edison, a unit of Rosemead, Calif.-based Edison International (NYSE:EIX - news), have run up about $12 billion of debt because a rate freeze keeps them from passing on their skyrocketing wholesale power costs to consumers. Pacific G&E serves about 13 million customers in northern and central California, while SoCal Edison, which is based near Los Angeles, serves about 11 million Californians. PG&E shares closed Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange at $9-5/8, down 1-5/16, or 12 percent. Shares of Edison International closed on the Big Board at $8-7/8, down 11/16, or 7.2 percent. Lenders rarely default on commercial paper because of its short-term nature, and because they often can't issue it in the first place if their credit quality is not high. A unit of builder Armstrong Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ACK - news) defaulted on commercial paper in November, while Mercury Finance Co. defaulted on some paper in January 1997. CREDIT LINE DEFAULTS, TRADING PRIVILEGES SUSPENDED In its filing, PG&E also said it is in default of a $436 million short-term credit line and $500 million long-term credit line. PG&E said its lenders are entitled to accelerate its repayment of about $434 million of outstanding debt under the $500 million credit line. Pacific G&E, meanwhile, said it is in default of an $850 million credit line. Many of the defaults were triggered by cuts in the last two days of PG&E's and Pacific G&E's bond ratings to low junk status by credit rating agencies Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's. Separately, Pacific G&E said the California Power Exchange plans to suspend its trading privileges as of Friday. It said the rating downgrades required it to post collateral, and it cannot. Pacific G&E said it owes $583 million to this entity on February 1. PG&E said it was not immediately available for comment. DOWNGRADES PG&E said it defaulted on $43 million of commercial paper as of Wednesday, while Pacific G&E defaulted on $33 million. The defaults came after their lenders on Tuesday blocked them from drawing on their credit lines. The parent said it has cash reserves of $347 million, while Pacific G&E has reserves of $700 million. The parent said Pacific G&E has no borrowings under the defaulted $850 million credit line, which is now being fully used as backup for the unit's commercial paper. It said Pacific G&E has $873 million of commercial paper outstanding, of which $437 million will mature by January 31. Pacific G&E also has a $1 billion credit line, but as of January 16 has drawn down $938 million under that line to pay commercial paper, PG&E said. PG&E said its $436 million credit line backs up its own commercial. PG&E said it has $501 million of commercial paper outstanding, of which $263 million will mature by January 31. Separately, PG&E said Pacific G&E said it owes $420 million to various power generators in early February, and $410 million in early March. The utility is seeking to avoid having to pay for power delivered in January until April 1. Moody's on Tuesday its bond ratings for Pacific G&E and PG&E on Wednesday to a respective ``Caa2'' and ``Caa3'' on Wednesday, and its ratings for their commercial paper to ``Not Prime.'' S&P on Tuesday cut its equivalent ratings to ``CC'' and ``C.''

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (7349)	9/27/2001 9:04:49 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Respond to of 19428

Econ 101 (...the consumer always pays and so they shall.... ), continued: From this website: easyjet.com "Barclays Fat Cat Charge" Unfortunately, easyJet has no choice but to accept a new passenger charge imposed by Barclays - one of its last actions before selling its majority stake in Luton Airport. We have fought a long campaign to resist its introduction. But we were recently given a "take it or leave it" ultimatum. We do not want to take services out of Luton Airport - you tell us you value them. Regrettably, then, we are faced with a position of having to introduce this "Barclays Fat Cat Charge". So you are clear where your money goes, we have separated out the charge that we now have to pay Barclays: £5.50 for every passenger who departs the airport. This is around a £4 increase on what we have been paying. Unfortunately, prices will have to absorb some of the increase. Why the name "Barclays Fat Cat Charge"? Well, Barclays have sold their 65% stake in Luton Airport for £82 million - they only paid £15 million. The 140% per annum return on their initial investment clearly warrants the "fat cat" description. And who will have to pay for this obscene profit? The airlines and their passengers, of course. close this window