Subject: re : so cal edison claims withholding of pipeline capacity
fyi - notice posted on ferc website this morning .
united states of america
federal energy regulatory commission
notice of public meeting on
wholesale power markets and
transmission services in california
( september 1 , 2000 )
on september 15 , 2000 , the federal energy regulatory
commission is planning to convene a public meeting in san diego ,
california to allow interested persons to give the commission
their views on recent events in california ' s wholesale markets .
while the commission is finalizing arrangements for a meeting on
september 15 th , the commission may need to change the meeting to
a different date within the week of september 11 th . a further
notice will be issued confirming the date . the meeting is
scheduled to begin at 9 : 00 a . m . , at the san diego concourse , the
copper room , 202 c street , san diego , california 92101 . all
interested persons may attend the meeting . the meeting will be
transcribed . a separate notice will be issued before the
meeting , setting forth an agenda and identifying the panels of
participants . additional information may be obtained from the
office of external affairs at ( 202 ) 208 - 0870 . information also
may be obtained from the commission ' s web page at
www . ferc . fed . us .
linwood a . watson , jr .
acting secretary
from : drew fossum 09 / 05 / 2000 01 : 17 pm
to : lorna brennan / et & s / enron @ enron
cc : steven harris / et & s / enron @ enron , jeffery fawcett / et & s / enron @ enron ,
lorraine lindberg / et & s / enron @ enron , kevin hyatt / et & s / enron @ enron , christine
stokes / et & s / enron @ enron , tk lohman / et & s / enron @ enron , michelle
lokay / et & s / enron @ enron , lindy donoho / et & s / enron @ enron , lee
huber / et & s / enron @ enron , susan scott / et & s / enron @ enron , shelley
corman / et & s / enron @ enron , dari dornan / et & s / enron @ enron , maria
pavlou / et & s / enron @ enron , jim talcott / et & s / enron @ enron
subject : re : so cal edison claims withholding of pipeline capacity
please get copies to me asap of the edison motion and the cpuc ferc
complaint . has someone , maybe someone at ena , already looked at any
allegations about enron or tw ? please forward these to kathy ringblom also
and i ' ll have her itemize any allegations we might want to repond to .
thanks df
et & s business intelligence department
from : lorna brennan on 09 / 05 / 2000 09 : 30 am
to : steven harris / et & s / enron @ enron , jeffery fawcett / et & s / enron @ enron ,
lorraine lindberg / et & s / enron @ enron , kevin hyatt / et & s / enron @ enron , christine
stokes / et & s / enron @ enron , tk lohman / et & s / enron @ enron , michelle
lokay / et & s / enron @ enron , lindy donoho / et & s / enron @ enron , lee
huber / et & s / enron @ enron , susan scott / et & s / enron @ enron , shelley
corman / et & s / enron @ enron , dari dornan / et & s / enron @ enron , maria
pavlou / et & s / enron @ enron , jim talcott / et & s / enron @ enron , drew
fossum / et & s / enron @ enron
cc :
subject : so cal edison claims withholding of pipeline capacity
edison charges gas market manipulation
southern california edison filed a motion late last week with the california
public utility commission seeking emergency relief from high spot gas prices
on which its power purchase rates are based . the company told the cpuc that
southern california border ( topock , az ) prices in the last month have risen
by $ 2 . 50 / mmbtu possibly because of market manipulation , in particular the
withholding off of the market of pipeline transportation capacity between the
supply basins and the california border .
" [ t ] here is substantial and compelling evidence that the basis differential
has been and continues to be grossly distorted by market power abuse ,
collusion and affiliate self dealing of out - of - state gas suppliers and
merchants , " edison told the cpuc .
the company noted the cpuc already has filed a section 5 complaint with ferc
regarding this issue and is seeking a recision of " certain allegedly
collusive contracts which it contends have permitted out - of - state natural gas
suppliers and their affiliates to drive up artificially california border gas
prices by wrongfully withholding capacity . " it notes the complaint
" conservatively estimates that the anti - competitive manipulation of the basis
differential has already damaged california gas and electricity users by $ 100
million annually since the beginning of 1998 . "
edison seeks an expedited order authorizing it to use the posted gas price of
$ 4 . 5133 / mmbtu , which was applied to sce ' s august 2000 avoided cost posting ,
to calculate its payment obligations to qualified power producers for the
month of october and every month going forward . it estimated september
bidweek border prices would average $ 7 / mmbtu . if such prices were used in
edison ' s september avoided costs posting , its transition formula payments to
certain independent power producers will be $ 29 million more than the month
prior , the company told the cpuc . " no mechanism exists to recapture the
increase in such payments if it is later determined by this commission or in
another forum that the topock border indices are unreliable at this time . "
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