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 : The California Energy Crisis - Information & Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: portage who wrote (1110)	2/22/2002 3:03:34 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Respond to of 1715

SUPER REGIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATIONS - Super RTOs portage, FERC is in the process of enabling the power marketers with two super RTOs, on in the heartland and the other on the East Coast. The hypocrisy is that Texas is exempted from them. Some market news briefs: PGandE ADMITS TO ACCOUNTING SLIP-UP Source: ENL Feb 22 10:31 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PG&E is the latest power company to own up to accounting slip-ups following the Enron scandal. PG&E now says it might have improperly kept several complex deals off its books. The company says the potential problems prompted San Francisco-based PG&E to postpone its scheduled fourth-quarter earnings announcement. PG&E warned it might revise its financial statements dating back to 1999, but says the changes won't have a major impact on its earnings or its shareholders' equity. ......................................................... GAO files! It's official..... WHITE HOUSE MAY CHALLENGE THREATENED GAO LAWSUIT OVER CHENEY ENERGY TASK FORCE RECORDS Source: ENL Feb 22 07:39 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- White House officials say they'll challenge the investigative authority of the General Accounting Office, if the agency sues to get access to Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force records. The dispute began last April, but has become more heated after Enron collapsed into bankruptcy. Enron was one of the largest contributors to President Bush's election campaign. A lawsuit by the GAO could come as early as today. ...................................................... Message 17097901 GOP Challenger To Calif Davis Gets Tough With Energy Cos DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 2/22/02 RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (DOW JONES)-The leading Republican gubernatorial challenger to California Gov. Gray Davis told a roomful of energy company employees Thursday that if he wins the race this year, he will make their companies renegotiate electricity contracts with the state. "A lot of you were the recipients of these flawed contracts," former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan said in a speech at a Western Power Trading Forum conference. "As governor I'll sit you down and renegotiate these contracts....I want you to be successful, but not on the backs of Californians." [[Ed.: BRAVO!]] At issue are $43 billion in long-term electricity deals which were signed by the state at the height of its energy crisis last year, and which many now say are overpriced. Not surprisingly, Riordan's comments elicited a chilly response from conference attendees. "He just lost a few votes right there," said a representative from one energy company who asked not to be named. [[Ed.: Typical of these secretive scumbuckets!]]* Several polls have shown Riordan to be the frontrunner Republican candidate, with Secretary of State Bill Jones and businessman Bill Simon lagging behind. So far, all indications are that a Riordan/Davis matchup would be a tight race. In his speech, Riordan said he wanted to combine all of the state agencies that deal with energy into one department to increase accountability, and implement real-time electricity metering on a massive scale. Real-time meters show customers how much energy is costing in a given hour so they can moderate usage accordingly. "I want to see real-time metering in every house and business in the state," Riordan said. Wholesale rates will be kept in check by the metering, but some regulation of retail electricity rates will still be necessary, Riordan said. He also said he favored connecting the electricity grids of the Western states. When asked about the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of PG&E Corp (PCG) unit Pacific Gas & Electric, Riordan described it as "a cover", and said the utility should retain the same level of regulation it had before the filing. The utility's reorganization plan seeks to tranfer assets to newly-formed companies that would be beyond the reach of state regulators. Several conference attendees said they were unsure if Riordan would be an improvement over Davis, who frequently villified generators last year as "profiteers" for allegedly overcharging for wholesale power. But Gary Ackerman, executive director of the WPTF, said Riordan's experience as a businessman made him preferable to Davis. "Riordan would be an improvement because he is a businessperson, and he's willing to listen, unlike Davis," Ackerman said.