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Enron Mail |
Gary's letter responding to a series on "poor Edison" in the LA Times. I
reviewed it in advance -- looked good to me. Sue Mara Enron Corp. Tel: (415) 782-7802 Fax:(415) 782-7854 ----- Forwarded by Susan J Mara/NA/Enron on 05/16/2001 08:27 AM ----- Gary Ackerman <foothillservices@mindspring.com< 05/15/2001 11:36 PM Please respond to foothillservices To: letters@latimes.com cc: Subject: Letter in re "Edison's Agony" To the Editor; The series of articles published last week by Ms. Cleeland called "Edison's Agony" continues your unbroken string of balanced and informative reporting on the California energy crisis. My group of merchant generators and power marketers include many pre-competition Edison empoyees, and employees from other utilities as well. We are sympathetic to the situation of those who currently serve under the Edison banner. We note, however, that something is amiss in your series, and only lightly touched. That is, the role of SCE in advancing the legislation and policies in favor of competition in Californa. It was SCE, and its CEO Mr. Bryson who masterminded the state deregulation legislation. Although SCE's Mr. Bryson objected vigorously to forced sales of power plants, and asked for long terms power purchase contracts, those lost battles gave way to winning the stranded-cost-recovery war. SCE did well in adopting to the new reality, until the wholesale rates flew up, and left the utility unable to recover its costs. SCE made a deliberate calculation in May of 2000 to leave its customers unprotected from cost shocks. There was no hedging undertaken for future power purchases when the wholesale forward prices exceeded SCE's historical generation component of rates. As a result, the debts piled up. Empathize with career employees of SCE, and with dedicated, hard working linemen who are always ready to serve at the cost of their private pleasures. But please, get it right. Much of this misery was the avoidable direct consequence of actions taken by, not avoided, by the SCE management team. Gary B. Ackerman Executive Director Western Power Trading Forum 6155 Almaden Expy, Suite 230 San Jose, CA 95120 650-324-3250
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