|
|
Enron Mail |
The State Consultants' Stock Buys Questioned Energy: State official urges
conflict of interest probe into purchases of shares in power firms. Los Angeles Times, 07/17/01 UK: LME disciplines Enron Metals, accepts settlememt. Reuters English News Service, 07/17/01 LME Fines Enron $264,000 for `Serious' Rule Breaches (Update2) Bloomberg, 07/17/01 Communications Company Terremark Issues Warns Investors about Losses KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News: The Miami Herald - Florida, 07/17/01 Calif Senator: Enron Contempt Charge Seen Dropped Tue Dow Jones Energy Service, 07/16/01 SMARTMONEY.COM: One Year and Counting (Their Losses) Dow Jones News Service, 07/16/01 AReM Says Sweet Bailout Deal for Edison Eliminates Competitors, Rebuilds Monopoly and Keeps Consumers Hostage PR Newswire, 07/16/01 Dutch Power Mkt Pressure On Watchdog, Generators, Mounts Dow Jones Energy Service, 07/16/01 U.S. Northwest Power Claims Put Utilities at Odds, Paper Says Bloomberg, 07/16/01 India Rejects Enron Proposal for NTPC to Buy Dabhol, Paper Says Bloomberg, 07/16/01 California; Metro Desk The State Consultants' Stock Buys Questioned Energy: State official urges conflict of interest probe into purchases of shares in power firms. JEFFREY L. RABIN; ERIC BAILEY TIMES STAFF WRITERS 07/17/2001 Los Angeles Times Home Edition B-7 Copyright 2001 / The Times Mirror Company Secretary of State Bill Jones on Monday urged California's attorney general to investigate possible conflict of interest violations by consultants hired to help the Davis administration navigate the energy crisis. Jones, a Republican candidate for governor, said at a Los Angeles news conference that Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and the state Fair Political Practices Commission should determine whether seven of the consultants have conflicts of interest because they own stock in one or more energy companies. He also asked the state's chief law enforcement officer to immediately determine whether the governor's office violated state law by exempting 21 of the 45 consultants from financial disclosure requirements. "I am gravely concerned that a cloud of illegality and collusion exists at the highest level of our state government due to the actions and the conscious policy of secrecy of Gov. Davis," Jones said. That brought a sharp retort from the governor's spokesman, Steve Maviglio, who attacked Jones for engaging in campaign politics. "The secretary of state has a five-person team bankrolled by the taxpayers attempting to dig up dirt for political reasons," Maviglio charged. "This is politics pure and simple being played by a candidate desperate to get his name in the paper," Maviglio said. If there are any violations of the law, he added, "they're going to be addressed." The secretary of state's entry into the energy controversy poses yet another headache for Davis as he prepares to run for a second term next year. Already, the GOP and some power producers have begun airing commercials critical of Davis' handling of the power crunch, forcing the governor to dip into his own campaign funds to fight back. Jones, as the state's chief elections officer, contends that his concerns are not just political. He noted that he appoints one of the five members of the Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces campaign finance and conflict of interest laws. Among other things, Jones questioned why Vikram Budhraja, head of the Electric Power Group, a Pasadena energy consulting firm, bought stock in Edison International and Dynegy Corp. in the days before he went to work for the state. Budhraja was hired under a $6.2-million contract between his firm and the state Department of Water Resources that was signed on Jan. 18. Like two dozens of the consultants hired by the state, he did not complete a financial disclosure statement until last week, more than six months after he went to work for the department, which now buys power for the state's three largest utilities. The financial disclosure statement filed by Budhraja last Thursday shows that he bought between $10,000 and $100,000 worth of Dynegy stock on Jan. 11. Six days later, he bought between $10,000 and $100,000 of Edison stock. That was the same day that Davis declared a state of emergency because of the energy crisis and ordered the Department of Water Resources to begin buying power on behalf of the state's financially troubled major utilities. On Jan. 22, Budhraja again bought between $10,000 and $100,000 of Edison stock. On his disclosure statement, he indicated that he began work for the state Jan. 25 and sold the stock on Jan. 29--the first opportunity he had to divest his holdings. Jones told reporters that Budhraja's investments in Edison grew by 44% to 47%, while his Dynegy investment increased 28% in that brief period. Budhraja was also on retainer as a consultant to Edison International, earning more than $100,000 in the year before becoming a contractor for the state. Maviglio said Budhraja wrote a letter to DWR Deputy Director Ray Hart saying he had no dealings with Edison International. He also was not involved in any long-term contracting with Edison. Any profits Budhraja made from the stock are irrelevant because the stock was sold by the time he was on the job, Maviglio said. Another consultant, Bernard Barretto, who describes himself as an energy trader/scheduler for the state, disclosed last week that he purchased stock in power producer Enron Corp. But no date or amount of the purchase was listed. Financial disclosure forms filed last week by five other consultants show they all own stock in Calpine Corp., a major California-based power wholesaler. Energy trader Elaine L. Griffin bought between $10,000 and $100,000 worth of Calpine stock on Feb. 1. Her contract with the state began Feb. 20. Griffin's newly completed economic disclosure statement does not show her selling the stock. Herman Leung, who went to work as an electricity scheduler in March, bought between $2,000 and $10,000 worth of Calpine stock on Jan. 22. Schedulers William F. Mead, Peggy Cheng and Constantine Louie also disclosed that they own stock in Calpine. Mead, in fact, said his holdings ranged between $100,000 and $1 million. But their forms contain an important omission: The consultants do not say when they purchased the shares. Oscar Hidalgo, a Water Resources spokesman, said the agency's attorney is reviewing all the past purchases to ensure that no laws were violated by contractors buying power or negotiating long-term contracts with companies in which they held stock. "We're reviewing all that to see if [there were] any problems with any past negotiations," Hidalgo said. "We're looking at all the records in past buys or trades so we understand who exactly did what." He said it's a "very big task" that will take weeks to complete. In the meantime, those contractors who have disclosed stock ownership have been recused from working with generators in which they have a financial interest. The governor's spokesman said several of the contractors who own stock in Calpine are not traders, and thus do not have direct dealings with the company. "If you own Calpine stock and aren't doing any business with Calpine, then you're fine," Maviglio said. Calpine is one of a number of firms that negotiated long-term contracts with the state and that have come under fire from critics who say they will saddle consumers with artificially high electricity costs for years to come. For weeks, Jones has been sharply critical of the administration's failure to require its consultants to file conflict of interest forms, which must be completed within 30 days of a person starting work. The governor's spokesman said the administration was told by the state's political watchdog agency that only consultants serving in a staff capacity or participating in decisions must file the forms. As a result, he said, only two dozen of the 45 consultants were required to complete the paperwork--most of them "hastily and clumsily" prepared last week, according to the secretary of state. Two of those who have not filed are Wall Street executives Joseph Fichera and Michael Hoffman, key advisors to Davis on his plans to rescue California's debt-ridden utilities. In that role, according to their contract, they could make millions. Maviglio said the two men, who have done extensive work for private energy companies, are "squeaky clean," but he would not elaborate. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UK: LME disciplines Enron Metals, accepts settlememt. 07/17/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange (LME) said on Tuesday it had taken disciplinary action against Enron Metals Ltd (EML) for breaches of its regulations. In a notice, the LME said EML had persistently failed to deliver warrants in time and failed to input trades into the matching system. "Enron Metals Ltd submitted an offer of settlement to the LME, in which it admitted the charge and agreed to pay a fine of 190,000 pounds," the Exchange said. The LME added that EML had cooperated throughout the dsiciplinary process so its enforcement committee had agreed to ratify the settlement. EML is one of the LME's 12 ring-dealing members, which trade on the exchange's open-outcry floor. Its metals trading operation, the former MG Plc, is a unit of U.S.-based energy giant Enron Corp . Enron acqired MG in May 2000. RULES BREACHED The LME said that between August 1999 and February 2001 EML had persistently failed to ensure that warrants needed to settle its exchange contracts were delivered to the London Clearing House (LCH) by 1100 local. A warrant is similar to a bearer bond, in that it denotes ownership of LME-registered metal stored in recognised warehouses. These failures to deliver on time jeopardised confidence in the LME's delivery system, and the exchange's committee concluded that EML's systems for ensuring compliance with rules and regulations had been seriously inadequate. Also, between May 2000 and February 2001, EML persistently failed to input trades into the LME's matching system, where trades are allocated by the clearing house. Concerning both the inputting errors and the late deliveries of warrants, EML frequently provided explanations that were inadequate. "The LME recognizes that since EML became part of the Enron Group, greater resources have been devoted to improving systems and procedures. EML has also sought to reassure the LME that it is commited to compliance with the LME rules and regulations," the LME added. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. LME Fines Enron $264,000 for `Serious' Rule Breaches (Update2) 2001-07-17 08:06 (New York) LME Fines Enron $264,000 for `Serious' Rule Breaches (Update2) (Adds daily LME volume in fifth paragraph, Enron statement sixth-eighth.) London, July 17 (Bloomberg) -- The London Metal Exchange said it fined Enron Corp. 190,000 British pounds ($264,000) for ``seriously inadequate'' compliance with trading rules that threatened to undermine confidence in the largest metals market. That's the biggest fine levied by the LME other than those stemming from the 1996 Sumitomo Corp. copper trading scandal, said Jo Holmes, an exchange spokeswoman. LME fined banks as much as 6.5 million pounds after a rogue copper trader lost Sumitomo $2.6 billion. Houston-based Enron, the world's largest energy trader and one of the largest LME traders, violated exchange rules over an 18-month period through late delivery of warrants, documents that confirm the completion of a metals sale, the LME said in a statement. Enron failed to rectify its procedures despite repeated warnings, the exchange said. ``By persistently failing to make delivery on time and failing to take swift action to remedy underlying problems, (Enron) jeopardized confidence in the LME delivery mechanism,'' the statement said. Enron's failures to comply ``were repeatedly brought to the attention'' of the company between last May and February of this year, said the LME, whose transactions are worth about $10 billion a day, Holmes said. Admission Enron admitted rules breaches in a statement. The violations stemmed from its acquisition last May of MG Plc, the world's largest copper-trading company, for $445 million, which expanded the natural gas and electricity trader's metals business. MG's back-office systems required ``substantial adjustment'' to comply with Enron's standards, the company's statement said. ``Enron Metals has cooperated fully throughout this period with the LME and has taken steps to remedy the situation,'' the company said. Communications Company Terremark Issues Warns Investors about Losses Beatrice E. Garcia 07/17/2001 KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News: The Miami Herald - Florida Copyright (C) 2001 KRTBN Knight Ridder Tribune Business News; Source: World Reporter (TM) Terremark Worldwide, which last month opened the long-awaited, highly touted NAP of the Americas in downtown Miami, lost $103.9 million for its fiscal year ended March 31, warned investors about its need to raise additional capital and noted that its auditors have concerns about the company's ability to its operations. In a report issued July 9 and included in Terremark's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company's independent auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers in Fort Lauderdale, said that Terremark "has suffered recurring losses from operations and has a net liquidity deficit that raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern." However, Manny Medina, Terremark's chairman and CEO, remains confident that the investors that have backed him will continue to do so. He said he has always raised the financing as he needs it, rather than stockpiling capital in the bank. That's the way he said he has been doing business for 20 years. Medina said the going-concern letter from the auditors is "just a black and white" issue. "You have to have your business plan funded for the next 12 months or you get a going-concern letter from the auditors." A going-concern letter does indicate that a company needs additional financing, said accounting sources. Yet, issuing such a letter is not a practice that auditors take lightly, they added. In documents filed Monday with the SEC, Terremark noted "there can be no assurance that any financing will be available ... on acceptable terms or at all." Medina said Terremark's ability to finish this project has been questioned from day one. "But the building is finished, the customers are signed up and the traffic is running." Medina was referring to the Technology Center of the Americas where the NAP is housed. Terremark oversaw the construction of that facility in downtown Miami. Terremark put in place a $109 million debt and equity financing package late last year to finance the construction. Terremark has 34 binding contracts from various major firms including AOL Time Warner, Deutsche Telekom, Emergia, Enron, EPIK Communications, Global Crossing, Qwest, SBC Internet Services and FPL Fibernet, to use the NAP. The company believes the revenue from NAP's customers will allow to fund this data exchange point. Sandra Gonzalez-Levy, Terremark's senior vice president for corporate communications, noted that the interim NAP, which Terremark opened at the end of December, started producing revenue immediately. The company reported revenue of $252,906 from the interim NAP for the quarter ended March 31. Gonzalez-Levy said the additional capital would be needed to carry out the company's plans to build additional data centers, smaller versions of the NAP in Miami, in Latin America and the Far East. Benjamin Finzi, executive vice president of EPIK Communications and head of the consortium of more than 100 telecom firms which supported the building of the NAP in Miami, said he hadn't seen Terremark's actual financial statements. However, Finzi said that in the past, Medina has assured consortium members that his investors would continue to back the financing of the NAP and its continued operations. Other sources close to Terremark said that Medina has always preferred to raise the capital he needs in the capital markets because it has greater credibility. But they believe Medina could tap his investors, some in the Far East and others in the Middle East, to continue funding this project rather than let it fail. Yet, the financing market for telecom companies remains difficult. Many firms, including possible tenants for the NAP, have pulled back their expansion and cut back operations because they don't have the capital and they don't sufficient revenues at this point to their day-to-day business. One investment banker who follows the company noted that the auditor's letter would make it more difficult for Terremark to raise the capital it needs to fund its expansion into Latin America and the Far East. Terremark said it hopes to refinance at more favorable terms for the TECOTA financing package. The financing includes $61 million in debt and $48 million in equity. During the latter part of its fiscal year, the company placed $40 million in convertible debt via a private placement. The net loss from operations for the fiscal year was $21.3 million compared to $6 million in the 2000 fiscal year. Revenue for the year rose to $40.1 million from $15.4 million. Terremark's fiscal-year loss of $103.9 million includes a one-time charge of $61.1 million for discontinued operations, primarily due to the write-off of goodwill for operations sold. Businesses shed in the past year include Telecom Routing Exchange Developers (T-Rex), Spectrum Communications, which had a presence in Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Chile, and its unified messaging and faxing operations in China. In the past year, Terremark has been transforming itself from one of South Florida's major real estate developers to an Internet infrastructure company providing networking and managed services. The company has said it will sell businesses that don't fit with this strategy. Terremark said it has a $17.2 million contract to sell Fortune House II, a condominium/hotel project in Fort Lauderdale Beach. It's scheduled to close July 25. The company initially had a contract for $18.5 million to sell this project, but it fell through, Gonzalez-Levy said. For the fiscal quarter ended March 31, Terremark reported revenue of $15.9 million with a net loss of $71.7 million compared to revenues of $14.5 million and a net loss of $15 million for the March 2000 quarter. News Service edited version: Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Calif Senator: Enron Contempt Charge Seen Dropped Tue 07/16/2001 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) LOS ANGELES -(Dow Jones)- A California Senate committee is likely to drop a contempt charge against Enron Corp. (ENE) Tuesday because the company is close to agreeing to provide information for an investigation into wholesale electricity prices, Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, said late Monday. "There has been a dramatic change, and I am optimistic that by noon (Tuesday) there will be a resolution with Enron," said Dunn, who chairs the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Market Manipulation. The committee voted last week to forward a contempt charge to the full Senate because Enron refused to provide certain financial documents and sign the committee's version of a confidentiality agreement. If the full Senate voted to hold Enron in contempt, it could issue punishments including hefty fines and incarceration of executives. - - 17/07/01 00-46G The committee also voted last week to drop its contempt charge at any time before a full Senate vote if Enron agreed to meet the committee's requests. "Enron has chosen to intimate to us that they will comply with our demands. They have asked us for the ability to preserve certain objections. There's a possibility we may be sued by other market participants, and if so, Enron wants to preserve its opportunities to pursue objections at that time," Dunn said. Enron filed a lawsuit last week to stop the committee's subpoena of financial records, and a company attorney said during hearings that Enron was likely to contest the contempt charge as well. In talks Monday, however, Enron mentioned the possibility of dropping the lawsuit, Dunn said, which is not a requirement to the committee's dropping the contempt charge. No-one at Enron could be reached immediately for comment. The documents sought by the price manipulation committee include information on bidding and pricing behavior in the state's electricity markets. The committee originally was poised to cite seven other electricity generators for contempt, but all eventually agreed to provide the requested information. -By Jessica Berthold, Dow Jones Newswires; 310-962-2843; jessica.berthold@dowjones.com -0- 17/07/01 01-32G Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SMARTMONEY.COM: One Year and Counting (Their Losses) By Matthew Goldstein 07/16/2001 Dow Jones News Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) Of SMARTMONEY.COM IF YOU'RE AN INVESTOR, no one needs to tell you how much things have changed since this time last year. On July 16, 2000, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 10812, while the Nasdaq Composite checked in at 4246. Now, they're at 10473 and 2029, respectively. It's been a rough stretch for just about everyone - including the members of the SmartMoney.com Investor Panel, which we inaugurated just over a year ago. So rough, in fact, that we've lost contact with five of our 15 panel members. Has the market's turmoil driven them to the sidelines? Possibly. Have they fled stock investing altogether? We hope not. But if the sharp fall-off in online stock-trading activity is any indication, there are plenty of investors who, like our wayward panel members, are missing in action. The panelists we were able to reach are using the technology-stock meltdown as an opportunity to reassess their investment strategies and goals. Last summer, most of their portfolios were still tilted heavily toward tech. But after seeing countless former highfliers lose half their value or more over the past year, the majority of our panel members are praying at the altar of market diversification. Says Lisa Frischhertz, a New Orleans stay-at-home mother who last year described herself as an aggressive growth investor: "I have diversified as much as possible by looking for stocks in varied sectors and not just in technology. I have also bought two REITs [real estate investment trusts] for their high-dividend yields, which I probably would not have considered in the past." Indeed, several panel members have sold shares in companies like data-storage giant EMC (EMC), telecommunications company Lucent Technologies (LU) and computer-hardware titan Sun Microsystems (SUNW), in favor of energy, utility, financial, retail and health-care stocks. Some of their favorites: power companies Enron (ENE) and Xcel Energy (XEL), credit-card giant MBNA (KRB), medical-testing firm Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and specialty retailer Chico's FAS (CHS). Jack Sulser, a retired U.S. foreign-service officer and one of our most active panel members this year, has even added the stock of a stodgy trucking company - Werner Enterprises (WERN) - to his holdings. But it isn't just the buying habits of our panel members that have changed during the past year; their expectations are different as well. With the Standard & Poor's 500's giddy 20% to 30% annual returns in the late 1990s a now distant memory, our panelists generally say they'd be pleased to end this year modestly in the black (most of them lost money last year). Still, our roundtable doesn't expect the market to start a sustained rally until the fourth quarter at the earliest. "Until some key companies start making their quarters, we are going to move sideways," says Kent Newsome, a Houston lawyer. "I don't see any significant upside for the rest of the year." Another area of agreement: Most panelists have taken a rather dim view of Wall Street analysts, especially the ones who kept their Buy ratings on technology stocks throughout the Nasdaq collapse. Panel members generally applaud the efforts by securities regulators and politicians to make analysts more accountable to the public. But several panelists also say investors need to ask themselves why they followed the analysts over the cliff so blindly. Says Rey Pana, a retired IBM executive: "Let the buyer beware." If you'd like to join the Smartmoney.com Investor Panel, send an email to Staff Editor Matthew Goldstein. Include your occupation, a daytime and evening telephone number, a brief summary of your investment strategy and a list of the major stocks you own. For more information and analysis of companies and mutual funds, visit SmartMoney.com at http://www.smartmoney.com Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. AReM Says Sweet Bailout Deal for Edison Eliminates Competitors, Rebuilds Monopoly and Keeps Consumers Hostage 07/16/2001 PR Newswire (Copyright © 2001, PR Newswire) Energy Service Providers Vehemently Oppose ABX2 82 SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for Retail Energy Markets (AReM) today announced its strong opposition to ABX2 82, the state Assembly Democrats' most recent alternative to the Southern California Edison MOU. As drafted, this new legislation seeks to immediately close the door on direct access and prevent the restoration of retail choice until at least 2003. This will effectively remove the ability of customers to take control of their own energy supply needs, thereby rendering them hostage to the utilities. "This bill is about putting Edison back on its feet and putting Edison's competitors out of business," said Rick Counihan of Green Mountain Energy Company. "Customers' right to choose the best energy option to meet their needs, and the needs of the environment, is being trampled in the name of restoring a monopoly." Furthermore, ABX2 82 raises questions about the status of existing contracts and current customers who may be forced, under the provisions of this bill, to return to extremely high priced power under the utilities. "In many ways this bill is worse than AB X1 because it threatens to nullify extension contracts for current direct access customers," said Aaron Thomas with AES NewEnergy. "This would force customers to return to utility service which would require the state to buy even more power than it has already." AReM stressed that it is long overdue for policy makers to promote an equitable and workable retail energy market. The legislature must immediately amend this legislation and replace it with a policy that is not created at the expense of large and small retail customers. "Legislators have argued that it is important for California to take control of its energy destiny," said Andrea Weller of Strategic Energy. "Too bad they are not willing to let Californians take control of their energy destinies." Alliance for Retail Energy Markets (AReM) is a coalition whose member companies serve nearly all of the California customers who have chosen a competitive energy provider instead of their traditional utility provider. AReM members include AES NewEnergy, Inc., Calpine, Commonwealth Energy Corp., Enron Energy Services, Inc., GreenMountain Energy Company, The New Power Company, New West Energy, Shell Energy Services, and Strategic Energy, L.L.C. MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X92216507 /CONTACT: Tracy Fairchild, +1-916-442-2331, or +1-916-835-9007, or or Erica Manuel, +1-916-442-2331, or +1-916-201-5029, both of Alliance for Retail Energy Markets/ 15:38 EDT Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Dutch Power Mkt Pressure On Watchdog, Generators, Mounts By Arent Jan Hesselink Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 07/16/2001 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) AMSTERDAM -(Dow Jones)- The pressure on Dutch energy market watchdog Dte to force electricity generators to disclose commercially sensitive plant status information is mounting. Monday, electricity traders wrote an open letter through VOEG, a free trade association for electricity and gas, that generators in the Netherlands be forced to publish information on power plant outages. "I have been saying it for ages: generators should let the market know what they're doing at their plants," said a trader with a large utility, while another said VOEG's proposal, if agreed, would lead to a "more stable, honest market." VOEG is reacting to recent hikes in prices for Dutch spot electricity. Those prices have soared in recent weeks, reaching levels of up to EUR1,200 a megawatt-hour on some days from around EUR35.00/MWh on a normal day. Traders have been speculating that unreported generator outages are at least part of the reason for the price hikes. Unscheduled outages are especially problematic in the Dutch market because of the small volumes traded. Reserve plant is difficult to bring on line quickly and readily-available imported power is limited by congestion on the country's transmission lines. When generators or suppliers are forced to cover short positions at short notice, the result is therefore usually extreme. Also, traders have said they suspect generators of deliberately pushing up prices by cutting output. Generators have always denied such allegations and no conclusive evidence has ever been presented against them. Clyde Murley, spokesman for Reliant Energy Inc (REI), which owns the Dutch generator UNA, said information on the status of UNA's plant is "just too commercially sensitive to make public." He said the generator doesn't approve of VOEG's ideas, but declined to be drawn on their possible consequences. A spokeswoman for Belgian-based Electrabel SA (B.ELE), also active as a generator in the Netherlands, also said it "categorically doesn't want to disclose such information." Dte spokesman Hans Jacobs, declined to comment on VOEG's letter. Jacobs said Dte is mapping market opinions on the way the Dutch electricity market functions, in response to the electricity price hikes VOEG is responding to. "We expect that process to be concluded at the end of this month," Jacobs said. "We will then consider possible measures." He added though that the Dte hasn't ruled out forcing generators to publish outage details, whether or not such outages are caused by maintenance. Monday's letter isn't the first on this subject to fall on Dte's doormat Last week, a group of foreign power traders on the Dutch market sent a similar one to the watchdog. Signatories to that letter included such parties as Enron Corp ENE), Aquila Inc (ILA) and TXU Corp (TXU), and Dutch companies Eneco and Remu. Generators active in the Netherlands aren't required to publish any information over outages, in contrast to the Nord Pool market that covers Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Since deregulation, European countries such as the U.K., Germany and Spain have allowed generators a far greater degree of confidentiality over controlling market sensitive information than exists in most financial markets. There are four generators active in the Netherlands: U.S-based Reliant Energy Inc. (REI), Belgium's Electrabel SA (B.ELE), Germany's E.On AG (EON) and Dutch firm Essent NV. All of them have entered the Dutch market by buying a local generator. -By Arent Jan Hesselink, Dow Jones Newswires; 31 20 6260770; arentjan.hesselink@dowjones.com Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. U.S. Northwest Power Claims Put Utilities at Odds, Paper Says 2001-07-16 13:08 (New York) Washington, July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Enron Corp.'s Portland General Electric and Avista Corp.'s Avista Energy are among utilities in the U.S. Northwest that face claims by other regional electricity providers that they were overcharged by $611 million, the Oregonian reported. Such claims could pit one utility against each other as they try to protect their customers. The utilities requesting refunds, which include the Bonneville Power Administration and Tacoma Power, were forced into paying unfair prices because of California's energy crisis, the paper said, citing filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Some of the companies requesting refunds are on Tacoma's list of targets. The situation would require sorting out every transaction that occurred in the region, the paper said, citing Rod Johnson, PGE's vice president for power supply. Unlike California, where power was bought and sold in a central spot market, most sales in the Northwest were bilateral contracts between willing buyers and sellers, the paper said. Utilities didn't have to buy the power if they didn't like the price, the paper said, citing Don Godard, manager at Grant County PUD. India Rejects Enron Proposal for NTPC to Buy Dabhol, Paper Says 2001-07-16 02:55 (New York) New Delhi, July 16 (Bloomberg) -- India said the state-run National Thermal Power Corp. won't buy Enron Corp.'s stake in its local unit Dabhol Power Co., the Business Standard reported, citing Press Trust of India, a news agency. Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay at a meeting with India's Power Minister Suresh Prabhu last week made the proposal, the paper said. The minister rejected it on grounds National Thermal is not in the business of taking over loss-making power companies. Enron's Lay also suggested the government could use National Thermal, the country's largest power generator, and other state- run utilities such as Power Trading Corp. to buy power generated by Dabhol as a way to lower costs. National Thermal produces a quarter of India's electricity. Power Trading owns the nation's power grid. Dabhol, 65 percent owned by Enron, and Maharashtra State Electricity Board, its only customer, have been quarrelling for the past seven months over unpaid bills. The board has stopped buying power from Dabhol and construction work on the $3 billion plant was halted last month after lenders stopped funding it.
|