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Enron Mail |
* yesterday's San Diego Union Tribune
PG&E sent hard-nosed proposal to Davis demanding no regulation=20 ASSOCIATED PRESS=20 April 16, 2001=20 SAN FRANCISCO =01) Pacific Gas and Electric Co. officials demanded the util= ity=20 be cut free from state regulation and be allowed to push huge rate increase= s=20 onto its customers, two weeks before negotiations with Gov. Gray Davis brok= e=20 off, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.=20 "Perhaps we misjudged their primary concern," said Steve Maviglio, the=20 governor's spokesman. "It wasn't resolving their credit issue. It was=20 extracting vengeance on the PUC."=20 In addition to insisting that it be released from the state Public Utilitie= s=20 Commission's regulatory grip, PG&E demanded it be allowed to buy back its= =20 power lines without competitive offers if the state ever decided to sell. I= n=20 addition, it wanted to continue profiting from any telecommunications lines= =20 or antennas linked to the system, according to a Feb. 28 eight-page proposa= l=20 obtained by the Chronicle and published Sunday.=20 n Developments in California's energy crisis=20 PG&E denies the document influenced the outcome between the utility and the= =20 state.=20 "It is ludicrous to suggest that this document caused the negotiations to= =20 break down," said PG&E spokesman Ron Low. "There were negotiations that=20 occurred later and other documents that followed."=20 At the time of the utility's bankruptcy filing April 6, PG&E Corp. Chairman= =20 Robert Glynn said no talks had been held for three weeks. PG&E's proposal h= ad=20 been delivered about two weeks before talks ceased.=20 PG&E has said it's entitled to recoup $9 billion it paid for wholesale powe= r=20 because of PUC-regulated rate caps, which kept the utility from passing hig= h=20 costs onto customers.=20 The proposal said this money "will be fully recovered in retail rates witho= ut=20 further CPUC review for prudence or any other purpose," the Chronicle=20 reported.=20 The document went on to demand the PUC drop all proceedings concerning PG&E= ,=20 including an investigation into whether the utility violated California law= =20 by transferring millions to parent company PG&E Corp. prior to filing=20 bankruptcy.=20 "They took a position on regulatory matters that was out of touch with=20 reality," Maviglio said.=20 PG&E Corp. spokesman Shawn Cooper declined to comment on the proposal.=20 "That document is confidential," he said.=20 Ratepayer advocates say they're baffled by PG&E's demands.=20 "It's like the Japanese insisting that we surrender Hawaii after we beat th= em=20 in World War II," said Harvey Rosenfield, consumer advocate for the=20 Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.=20 , Copyright 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
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