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Enron Mail |
THE FRIDAY BURRITO=20
He who laughs last thinks slowest.=20 Which part of the energy crisis did you enjoy this week? Unlike default=20 electric service, when it comes to California disasters, you have a wide=20 range of choices among competing options.? For example, there was the=20 Governor, our Governor preaching the gospel among the Democratic Governors = in=20 Washington, D.C., and the financial analysts in New York City.? In=20 Sacramento, there was Senate Energy Committee hearings.? And from the poiso= n=20 tipped pens of the Department of Market Analysis at the ISO there was a=20 report that I can assure you will stir the pot.? Which event was your=20 favorite?=20 This was a Holy Week, of sorts, for Catholics.? Tuesday was Fat Tuesday, an= d=20 Wednesday was Ash Wednesday.? I saw a married couple in Starbucks on=20 Wednesday night that had ashen smudges on their forehead.? At a distance I= =20 wasn't sure about the marking.? At first I only saw the woman waiting for h= er=20 coffee order.?? I assumed she was marked as an Untouchable, you know, the= =20 Indian type, although she looked more Eastern European than Indian.? You=20 never know.? I couldn't figure out how her marking was so indistinct becaus= e=20 the Untouchable tattoo is a very bright color.? It wasn't until I saw her= =20 husband, also marked on his forehead in the same way, that I realized the= =20 meaning of the symbol, the day and its significance.? When I lived in=20 Chicago, a long time ago, and worked downtown in the Loop, I would see thre= e=20 out of four adults either at work or on the street with the Ash Wednesday= =20 indicia on their forehead.? I haven't seen the same interest in religious= =20 practice for all the 23 years I have lived in California. Amazing the thing= s=20 one can learn while sipping a Grande Non-fat Chai Tea at Starbucks.? Do you= =20 think there could be one day a year where people would wear the following= =20 insignia on their forehaead?=20 [IMAGE] I don't often go to Starbucks at night.? A caffeine beverage keeps me awake= .?=20 However, when my son is at his ice-hockey practice in Belmont, visiting the= =20 local coffeehouse in order to kill time is just too tempting.? I watch=20 people, sip coffee, and hunt for a used newspaper to read.? For some reason= =20 last Wednesday evening, I checked my voice mail, just in case someone left = me=20 a message about a mistake in my favor on my bank account.? Instead, a=20 reporter from the Orange County Register called me at 7:30 p.m., and asked = me=20 to return his call.? Having nothing better to do than watch people take=20 communion at the coffee bar and contemplate how Untouchable tattoos can tur= n=20 gray, I called the reporter.? He answered the phone.? He wanted to know my= =20 (meaning your) reaction to the ISO's study to be filed at FERC explaining h= ow=20 generators have overcharged the ISO relative to their likely operating cost= s=20 for real time energy? The amounts of the overcharges for December and Janua= ry=20 are alleged in the study to be hundreds of millions of dollars.? As always,= I=20 was equipped with sufficient ignorance to provide a meaningful quote.? I=20 said, "Huh?"=20 He went on.? Did I think the study was politically motivated by the Governo= r=20 Davis' hand-picked ISO Governing Board?? This time I nailed the answer.? I= =20 said, "What?"? Actually, I backed away from entangling myself in the finger= =20 pointing game.? It was tempting to indulge, I might add, but I didn't do it= .?=20 I said, "No, the politics wouldn't change this outcome.? The ISO has a righ= t=20 to ask for an audit of the bids, and they did.? Simple."? Maybe I'm right, = or=20 maybe I'm wrong.? Who knows?=20 Last week, I received an e-mail from ISO Governing Board member Michael Pet= er=20 Florio, a cat I long ago nicknamed Old Deuteronomy, for reasons I can no=20 longer remember.? Deut responded to a comment I made to him that Mr. Florio= =20 is the most senior and knowledgeable member of the ISO Governing Board.? Th= at=20 isn't surprising, I told Deut, but it does speak volumes about the current= =20 Board's composition.? Deut wrote back, "That's comforting, I think.? I trie= d=20 to make the point after Kent Palmerton [Williams Energy] spoke at the last= =20 public comment period that I want to hear what people think about issues=20 coming up at the ISO, even if requires use of personal e-mail to bypass the= =20 ISO.? Despite all the anguished rhetoric, we all have to live together, wor= k=20 together, and understand each other going forward."? Deut asked me to put= =20 that in the Burrito, so I did.=20 But as Governor's go, it gives me a heartache to listen to our State=20 Governor.? This man is a one-act disaster.? I suppose we Californian's get= =20 what we deserve.? The Gov's comment this week to a group in Washington D.C.= =20 floored me.? He said, and I am not making this up, that California is on th= e=20 backside of the electricity crisis problem.? I thought that comment deserve= d=20 some special attention. When a San Francisco Chronicle reporter asked for m= y=20 opinion, I couldn't shut up. I exclaimed, "Backside of the problem?? No. I= =20 think we are on the dark side of the moon.? If we don't turn this thing=20 around, there won't be any light."? Huff, and puff.=20 Bankruptcy or not to bankrupt, that is the question.? Here is my take on th= e=20 issue, this week.? By next week I should have an entirely different answer.= ?=20 If PG&E folds, that is accepts a deal with the State to sell its transmissi= on=20 assets, then it would appear as if the utilities are serious about remainin= g=20 financial whole, and working out their payments with creditors.? Clearly,= =20 there is many a slip 'tween the cup and the lip.? Creditors could demand mo= re=20 than the utilities have received from the sale of the assets.? My crude=20 analysis suggests that after the utilities pay off the bonds and obligation= s=20 secured by the transmission assets, there might not be enough money to cove= r=20 the outstanding balances with the unsecured creditors.? The remaining open= =20 question, then, is will the PUC allow as a cost the pass through of=20 additional revenue requirements to fully cover the amounts owed?? It seems= =20 these days, the PUC can do, and does anything it wants, with or without leg= al=20 procedure.? Of course, most of what they do make things worse, but, hey, th= at=20 is why we have a PUC. I noticed that the PUC informed the world that any=20 power purchases made by DWR will be deemed just and reasonable.? Now why=20 couldn't they say the same thing to the utilities for their long-term power= =20 purchase deals?=20 Let's put some hot coffee on the burner, and see what we can brew.=20 Things in the People's Republic of California=20 ?@@@ Community Choice may be a Savior of Direct Access=20 ?@@@ And the Award for the Silliest Bill Goes to ABX1 70=20 ?@@@ Creditor's Committee for Power Marketers, Out of State Generators, and= =20 Public Power Entities=20 Jobs and People=20 Odds & Ends (_!_)=20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=20 Things in the People's Republic of California=20 ?@@@ Community Choice may be a Savior of Direct Access=20 ABx1 1 suspended all new direct access customers in California until the DW= R=20 no longer purchases energy.? This will occur when our grandchildren graduat= e=20 from college.? Although clean up legislation has been suggested to reverse= =20 this crippling effect of ABx1 1, I am not hopeful. Alas, our friend from=20 Local Power, Paul Fenn located in Oakland has found, at long last, a sponso= r=20 for his proposed bill to allow communities to select energy providers other= =20 than the incumbent utilities.? Here are the details.=20 Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) announced her sponsorship of= =20 the California Community Choice bill (drafted by Local Power last year) on= =20 February 15. A hearing will be announced shortly and could be as early as= =20 next week.=20 Local Power has also submitted an amendment to ABx1 48 to facilitate=20 "distributed generation" in urban areas, such as solar, wind, small hydro,= =20 fuel cells, etc. This amendment will be heard at the same time. This bill= =20 would allow a city (for example) to assign power on a real time basis from = a=20 solar cell or other local generation at one location in a city to "load=20 points" elsewhere in the city on the same distribution system.? The languag= e=20 would enable many forms of distributed generation to develop, but would be= =20 particularly valuable for Community Choice cities to jump-start large scale= =20 urban solar, wind, fuel cell, small hydro and other local power projects.= =20 Community Choice is the solution to California's failure to implement retai= l=20 access in any meaningful way. Local governments are authorized to aggregate= =20 all market non-participants in their jurisdictions into city-negotiated=20 contracts, much like cable television or garbage services have been=20 negotiated for decades, but with an opt-out clause for consumers who are ab= le=20 to participate directly in the market. Groups of contiguous municipalities= =20 may join together, and county governments may coordinate consenting=20 municipalities in regional power contracts.=20 Things in the People's Republic of California=20 ?@@@ And the Award for the Silliest Bill Goes to ABX1 70=20 Each week our State Legislators try to outdo each other.? I think they meet= =20 at a local watering hole in Sacramento, and dare each other to see who can= =20 come up with the most absurd emergency-session energy bill.? We have a new= =20 winner, Assembly Member La Suer, and it is called ABx1 70.? Here is what th= is=20 odious piece of legislation is all about.=20 ABX1 70 attempts to criminalize acts of unregulated generators if they=20 perform maintenance at times other than the California Public Utilities=20 Commission requires. Further, the commission is required to allow scheduled= =20 maintenance of only one generator at a time.=20 I can hear you out-of-state Burrito readers howling with laughter, slapping= =20 your thighs, and shaking your heads.? "Hey Joe, listen to this.? A guy name= d=20 La Sewer is forcing generators to be out on maintenance only one at a time.= "?=20 I admit, there is a certain amount of disbelief that anyone who can read,= =20 write, and run for the California Assembly could actually craft this bill.?= =20 If you want to have some fun, then in the above paragraph, replace the word= =20 "maintenance" with the word "sex", and the word "generator" with "utility= =20 executive(s)".? We might call Milton-Bradley to see if they want a piece of= =20 the action on our new game.? We=01,ll call it Legendary.=20 Shall we analyze the impacts?? Let's see, there are about 500 major=20 generators in the state.? That means if you own one of those puppies, you c= an=20 go down for maintenance once every ten years.? That works for me.=20 It reminds me of a story about the communist government that once ruled the= =20 USSR.? A Russian asks a plumber when he can come to this house to fix a=20 leak.? The plumber opens his appointment book, and says, "The soonest I can= =20 fit you in, Comrade, is in February, 2004."? "What day?" asks the Russian.= =20 The plumber rubs his chin and contemplates an answer, "February 8," he=20 answers.? "Morning or afternoon," asks the Russian.? "Afternoon," answers t= he=20 plumber.? "Good," says the Russian with a sigh of relief, "the electrician = is=20 coming in the morning."=20 The bill, if enacted, will allow generators to be out for maintenance durin= g=20 the peak season, which is rapidly becoming all year long in California.?=20 Well, I would like you people to do me a favor.? Let's play the same game= =20 that the Legislators like to play in Sacramento.? Think of the most=20 outrageous legislation you can imagine, and write it down on a piece of=20 paper.? Wait a few weeks, and I bet you will see legislation proposed in=20 California that makes your suggestion look pale in comparison.? Stick aroun= d=20 here long enough, and either you are nuts, or you will be.=20 Things in the People's Republic of California=20 ?@@@ Creditor's Committee for Power Marketers, Out of State Generators, and= =20 Public Power Entities=20 Several good-news points to tell you regarding the formation of a creditor'= s=20 committee for those among you who are feeling disenfranchised.? Worry not.?= =20 You are in good company.=20 The WPTF Board this week provided guidelines for your favorite executive=20 director to apply his organizational skills to facilitate the development o= f=20 a creditor's committee. I have targeted WPTF members who either have=20 expressed an interest in joining a committee, or those who might be among= =20 unsecured creditors that want to protect their ability to recover amounts= =20 owed to them by PG&E, and SCE, through the ISO and the PX.? Any creditor's= =20 committee so developed will be independent and unaffiliated with WPTF.? Tha= t=20 is understandable and necessary so that WPTF's status as a tax-exempt trade= =20 association is not effected with credit issues of individual members.=20 I have talked to many out-of-state generators, power marketers, and in-stat= e=20 public power agencies about the formation of a committee, and the interest = is=20 very high.? Here is why.? If SCE and PG&E both strike deals with the state = to=20 sell their transmission assets to raise some or all of the cash to pay back= =20 due amounts, there is an increasing likelihood that the debtors, the=20 utilities, will try to stave off bankruptcy.? A creditor's committee is ver= y=20 valuable in that instance.? A committee of like-minded creditor's with=20 similar objectives will give participants a window and a voice into the=20 disbursement of payments the debtors will make to all creditors.=20 Saybrook Capital will represent the interests of the committee once formed.= ?=20 Saybrook will seek recognition of the committee from the debtors, and becom= e=20 a pipeline of information between the creditors and the debtors, and vice= =20 versa.? If there is any member among our group who I have not talked to, an= d=20 thinks your interests would be aligned with the targeted participants, eith= er=20 give me a call or send me an e-mail.? I will be happy to provide you with t= he=20 information you need to participate.? An organizational meeting of the=20 committee is scheduled for the middle of next week.? If your company or=20 organization is unable to join a creditor's committee now, but might be abl= e=20 to in the future, then there should be no problem.? Being involved with the= =20 committee at the front end provides participants with an opportunity to cra= ft=20 the objectives and goals of the group.? Participation at a later date shoul= d=20 be open. For information about Saybrook Capital, please call Jonathon=20 Rosenthal at 310-899-9200, Ext. 204.=20 Jobs and People=20 One of our Burrito readers took advantage of a job opportunity posted last= =20 week, and might land a job as a result.? Soon, the Burrito will operate a= =20 dating service for lonely power marketers and unloved merchant generators (= no=20 word replacement, please).? Until then, however, we'll stick with the job= =20 seekers looking for work.? Will regulate for food.=20 Gene Waas was with the PX before they started letting go of staff.? Gene is= =20 an attorney who has worked with WPTF on many projects and initiatives. He i= s=20 a wonderful person who has a lot of practical experience in both natural ga= s=20 and electric power regulatory affairs.? Gene is currently living in the=20 Pasadena area.? If you would like a copy of his resume, drop my a line.? I= =20 have an electronic copy.=20 We have a job seeker that prefers to remain anonymous.? He currently works= =20 for an eastern electric utility, and he is looking for a change of venue,= =20 possibly California.? Should we warn him in advance what he might be gettin= g=20 into?? Here is the candidate's job search statement.=20 As for what kind of position that I am looking for, that can be as diverse = as=20 my background.? Ideally, it would be position that allows me to combine my= =20 industry knowledge with my technical and communication.? The changing=20 regulatory environment in California and the west sound like an extremely= =20 interesting opportunity.? Not only do I have experience dealing in the=20 regulatory environment, but I also have experience negotiating with=20 regulators and state officials.=20 I feel that I am ideally suited for a position in: Asset development,=20 Finance, System development, Regulatory negotiation and Workout.=20 I have the candidate's electronic version of his resume for anyone who migh= t=20 want to consider it.=20 Odds & Ends (_!_)=20 My wife suggested the following piece that I thought was very clever.?=20 Really.? I didn't need any additional persuasion.=20 An Anagram, as you all know, is a word or phrase made by transposing or=20 rearranging the letters of another word or phrase.? The following are=20 exceptionally clever.? Someone out there either has far too much time to=20 waste or is deadly at Scrabble. Wait till you see the last one!=20 ??????????? Dormitory=20 ??????????? When you rearrange the letters:=20 ??????????? Dirty Room=20 ??????????? Evangelist=20 ??????????? When you rearrange the letters:=20 ??????????? Evil's Agent=20 ??????????? Desperation=20 ??????????? When you rearrange the letters:=20 ??????????? A Rope Ends It=20 ??????????? The Morse Code=20 ??????????? When you rearrange the letters:=20 ??????????? Here Come Dots=20 ??????????? Slot Machines=20 ??????????? When you rearrange the letters:=20 ??????????? Cash Lost in 'em=20 ??????????? Mother-in-law=20 ??????????? When you rearrange the letters:=20 ??????????? Woman Hitler=20 ??????????? Snooze Alarms=20 ??????????? When you rearrange the letters:=20 ??????????? Alas! No More Z's=20 ??????????? And for the grand finale:=20 ??????????? PRESIDENT CLINTON OF THE USA=20 ??????????? It can be rearranged (with no letters left=20 ??????????? over, and using each letter only once) into:=20 ??????????? TO COPULATE HE FINDS INTERNS=20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=20 Have a great weekend.? Keep those cards and anagrams coming. Legendary =3D = Le=20 End Gary=20 gba=20 ?
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