Energy Secretary Bill Richardson yesterday said the long-awaitedClinton administration bill to restructure the retail powerindustry would be on congressional lawmakers’ desks after theyreturn from Easter recess in mid-April.

The administration is in the midst of fine-tuning the measure sothat it “make[s] more sense” from a policy standpoint, he saidduring an electricity restructuring forum sponsored by The AtlanticMonthly in Washington D.C. When Congress comes back on April 12th,”it’ll be ready,” he assured Rep. John Dingell, ranking Democrat onthe Commerce Committee, and other top energy lawmakers andregulators.

The bill will have some bad news for the natural gas industry inthat it proposes to mandate the use of renewable fuels in electricgeneration at an annual level that will be a “little higher” thanthe 5.5% previously sought by the administration, Richardson noted.Some expect it to be 7% or higher. The gas industry is ferventlyopposed to the mandate because it contends it would give renewablesa leg up over natural gas in the generation market. “We’re willingto go to battle” over this issue, said one source, adding thatnearly the entire industry was united against the mandate.

Lawmakers said the outlook for restructuring legislation out ofCongress this year appears iffy at best. “I don’t think we can [geta comprehensive bill through] unless we’re prepared to address thetough issues,” including stranded-cost recovery, power marketingadministrations, the grandfathering of states’ retail access plansand the renewable mandate, said Senate Energy Committee ChairmanFrank Murkowski (R-AK). He indicated the prospect for such a billthis year was a “mixed bag.”

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) said a comprehensive restructuringmeasure was out of the question this year, but he thinkslegislation addressing a “very short list” of issues might bedoable. “…[I]f we can get to a point very early in this Congressto agree that we’re only going to be able to pass a very short listof provisions at the federal level, I think we can do that,” hetold energy executives and lobbyists.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), chairman of the energy and powersubcommittee, was a bit more optimistic and had a clear-cuttimetable for passage of restructuring legislation. He hopes to domarkup by either “some time this spring or early summer,” andforward a bill to the floor by “late summer or early fall.” Heconceded, however, there was “no absolute necessity” to move a billnow, but he added “if we can get consensus, there is no reason notto move a bill.” Barton said his goal was to be at a “Rose Garden[signing] ceremony” for electricity restructuring legislation”before the first presidential primary in the year 2000.”

Industry analysts generally agree the chances for a powerrestructuring bill grow increasingly dim as the beginning of thepresidential primary draws near next year.

Richardson said that not only was there a need for federallegislation, but that the states were clamoring for it. The “stateswant us to do this…What we would be doing would be helping thestates achieve some very good results for their customers.” Theadministration estimates its bill would save retail power consumers$20 billion annually. Dingell countered that he hadn’t heard anystate regulators asking “the feds” to step into their retailmarkets.

Murkowski said he was concerned a federal restructuring billwould increase power costs for rural consumers, particularly in hishome state. But Richardson noted there were “a lot of provisions”in the administration’s bill, including one that would allow statesto opt out of the federal proposal that would protect ruralcustomers and others.

Richardson cited the price spikes seen in the Midwest powermarket last summer as a good example of “why we need a federalbill” to complement states’ efforts. “We’re not going to haveutilities build new [generation] capacity unless they know what thenew rules are going to be,” he said.

FERC Chairman James Hoecker said he was “guardedly optimistic”that there wouldn’t be a recurrence of power price spikes in theMidwest. “I don’t think you’re going to find that this summer. Ithink there is more generation on line in the Midwest” than lastyear.

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.