Plans by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to mark up emergency legislation designed to provide relief to the troubled California wholesale energy markets were delayed yesterday after last-minute negotiations broke out between Democrats and Republicans over the measure.

Talks between House members on the panel appear to be centered around an amendment offered by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA). The Massachusetts lawmaker has proposed that at least 80% of all wholesale sales of electricity made by a public utility or other entity fall under contracts with pre-determined prices over a period of at least one year. Under Markey’s plan, if suppliers do not meet the 80% floor of long-term contracts, they run the risk of having their market-based rate authority stripped from them and becoming subject to cost-of-service ratemaking.

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) told reporters that Republicans put out feelers to Democrats Wednesday night, saying they wanted to “sit down and talk.” The California lawmaker noted that negotiations started yesterday afternoon, but also emphasized that the process is at a starting point.”Do we have anything written down on paper in terms of anything that’s agreed upon? No,” she said. “Was there a very healthy discussion about one major aspect? Yes, a good give and take,” Eshoo continued.

Eshoo was also asked to comment on how much attention has been given in the negotiations to a proposal by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) to re-impose the cap on prices paid in the secondary gas transportation market to California. “Just touched a little bit, touched on it,” Eshoo said. “We raised it as being something that hadn’t been addressed yet,” she added. The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) recently went on record in opposition to the Boucher plan (see Daily NGI, May 23).

Markup of the bill, the “Electricity Emergency Relief Act,” is now slated to begin this morning. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), was recently voted out by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on energy and air quality (see Daily NGI, May 11).

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