|
|
Enron Mail |
Sue Mara Enron Corp. Tel: (415) 782-7802 Fax:(415) 782-7854 ----- Forwarded by Susan J Mara/NA/Enron on 03/21/2001 10:25 AM ----- =09Jean Munoz <jmunoz@mcnallytemple.com< =0903/21/2001 09:27 AM =09=09=20 =09=09 To: Katie Kaplan <kaplan@iepa.com<, "'Andy Brown (E-mail)'"=20 <ABB@eslawfirm.com<, "'B Brown Andy (E-mail)'" <andybrwn@earthlink.net<,=20 "'Baker Carolyn (E-mail)'" <cabaker@duke-energy.com<, "'Bob Escalante=20 (E-mail)'" <rescalante@riobravo-gm.com<, "'Bob Weisenmiller (E-mail)'"=20 <rbw@mrwassoc.com<, "'Curtis Kebler (E-mail)'"=20 <curtis_l_kebler@reliantenergy.com<, "'Douglas Kerner (E-mail)'"=20 <DKK@eslawfirm.com<, "'Greg Blue (E-mail)'" <gtbl@dynegy.com<, "'Jan=20 Smutny-Jones (E-mail)'" <smutny@iepa.com<, "'Jeff Dasovich (E-mail)'"=20 <Jeff.Dasovich@enron.com<, "'Joe Ronan (E-mail)'" <joer@calpine.com<, "'Joh= n=20 Larrea (E-mail)'" <john.g.larrea@williams.com<, "'John Stout (E-mail)'"=20 <John_H_Stout@reliantenergy.com<, "'Julee Malinowski-Ball (E-mail)'"=20 <jmball@ns.net<, "'Kassandra Gough (E-mail)'" <kgough@calpine.com<, "'kent= =20 Palmerton (E-mail)'" <kent.palmerton@williams.com<, "'Kristin Vellandi=20 (E-mail)'" <kvellandi@pstrategies.com<, "'Lynn Lednicky (E-mail)'"=20 <lale@dynegy.com<, "'Marty Wilson (E-mail)'" <mwilson@pstrategies.com<,=20 "'McNally Ray (E-mail)'" <rmcnally@mcnallytemple.com<, "''Nam Nguyen'=20 (E-mail)'" <nam.nguyen@powersrc.com<, "'Norton Kelli (E-mail)'"=20 <knorton@mcnallytemple.com<, "'Paula Hall-Collins (E-mail)'"=20 <paula.hall-collins@williams.com<, "'Pigott Jack (E-mail)'"=20 <jackp@calpine.com<, "'Richard Hyde (E-mail)'" <rwhyde@duke-energy.com<,=20 "'Rob Lamkin (E-mail)'" <rllamkin@seiworldwide.com<, "'Roger Pelote=20 (E-mail)'" <roger.pelote@williams.com<, "'Stephanie-Newell (E-mail)'"=20 <stephanie-newell@reliantenergy.com<, "'Sue Mara (E-mail)'"=20 <smara@enron.com<, "'Theo Pahos (E-mail)'" <tpahos@ppallc.com<, "'Tom Ross= =20 (E-mail)'" <tross@mcnallytemple.com<, "Carol H Hudson (E-mail)"=20 <Chudson@iepa.com<, steven kelly <steven@iepa.com<, "'Anne Kelly (E-mail)'"= =20 <kelly@hnks.com<, "'Chuck Cole (E-mail)'" <ccole@advocation-inc.com<,=20 "'Delany Hunter (E-mail)'" <dhunter@smithandkempton.com<, "'DJ Smith=20 (E-mail)'" <djsmith@smithandkempton.com<, "'Hedy Govenar (E-mail)'"=20 <hgovenar@acom2.com<, <mmoretti@mccabeandcompany.net<, "'Maureen OHaren=20 (E-mail)'" <Oharen@hmot.com<, "'Mike Monagan (E-mail)'" <mrmonagan@aol.com<= ,=20 "'Phil Isenberg (E-mail)'" <isenberg@hmot.com<, "'Robert Ross (E-mail)'"=20 <robbiz@cwo.com<, "'Ron Tom (E-mail)'" <Rtom@govadv.com<, "'Scott Govenar= =20 (E-mail)'" <sgovenar@govadv.com<, "'Susan Mccabe (E-mail)'"=20 <sfmccabe@mindspring.com<, <rtemple@mcnallytemple.com<,=20 <megan.beiser@edelman.com<, <tracy.fairchild@edelman.com<,=20 <deborah.fiorito@dynegy.com<, <tcwillia@duke-energy.com<, <mstultz@epsa.org= <,=20 <lchurch@epsa.org< =09=09 cc:=20 =09=09 Subject: Great Sacramento Bee Editorial Today =01; =20 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ B=01; E=01; E=01; =01; E=01; D=01; I=01; T=01; O=01; R=01; I=01; A=01; L=01= ; S ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Our first Gray-outs: These power outages are purely a failure of leadership (Published March 21, 2001)=20 Add a new term to the electricity nomenclature -- the Gray-out. This is a= =20 power outage caused by politics in Sacramento under Gov. Gray Davis, rather= =20 than some unavoidable mismatch between supply and demand. This is March. Peak demand is thousands upon thousands of megawatts lower= =20 than it will be this summer. And yet the lights are going out. These rolling Gray-outs trace squarely back to state government's failure t= o=20 figure out a way to pay for all the power that California needs. The=20 generators who aren't getting paid are beginning to go temporarily out of= =20 business. Day by day, less and less power is available for the grid, to the= =20 point that a little bit of spring sun is enough to overtax supply and turn= =20 out the lights. Unbelievable. It's true that the governor is bleeding the state's coffers to the tune of= =20 about $50 million every day to pay the big for-profit generators for their= =20 supply. This is his short-term solution, until the longer-term solution --= =20 whatever that is -- kicks in. But no, even that huge payment isn't all the= =20 money needed to pay all the generators. Neglected by the government plan are about 600 little guys that produce 20= =20 percent of the electricity supply. These are generators dotted throughout t= he=20 state known as Qualifying Facilities. A creation of the alternative energy= =20 movement of the 1970s, these are plants powered by natural gas, the sun and= =20 the wind. Unlike the big for-profit generating companies, these QFs are=20 contractually tied to the giant utilities, Southern California Edison and= =20 PG&E. And the utilities haven't been paying them for weeks and weeks -- at= =20 this point the QFs are owed $1.48 billion. Not surprisingly, some of these generators can't afford to keep producing= =20 power for free. Grid operators say that these QFs could be producing about= =20 6,000 megawatts if they were being paid. Instead, they are producing about= =20 3,100, and the amount is decreasing. Outages were triggered on Monday becau= se=20 the grid was short about 1,000 megawatts of load. This math clearly reveals= =20 how avoidable this disruption was. Call it a rolling Gray-out. Bipartisan legislation has languished in Sacramento for weeks that would cu= t=20 in half what these QFs have been billing the utilities. The savings are=20 possible by moving these contracts into long-term deals and out of the=20 higher-priced spot market. This piece of the overall solution has been=20 stalled while the governor has been at work on the others, such as returnin= g=20 the big utilities to solvency and locking in power purchases long-term with= =20 the big for-profit generators. Disregarding the little guys, however, is a= =20 mistake that the governor and Legislature should correct immediately.
|