Backlash

The political backlash from high winter heating bills may not be nearly as severe as first expected because mild weather has pulled the rug out from under wholesale prices. Consumers Energy said Wednesday that its customers can expect about half of the increase in prices that the utility previously projected.

It’s not nice to fool the investing public — energy companies and their auditors are learning as Enron’s collapse continues to spark a tidal wave of investigations, recriminations and falling stock prices. Not only the companies are under attack but also the investment analysts who follow them and even the watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) itself is coming under fire for a “failure of leadership,” for abdicating its responsibility to set strict financial reporting standards.

It’s not nice to fool the investing public — energy companies and their auditors are learning as Enron’s collapse continues to spark a tidal wave of investigations, recriminations and falling stock prices. Not only the companies are under attack but also the investment analysts who follow them and even the watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) itself is coming under fire for a “failure of leadership,” for abdicating its responsibility to set strict financial reporting standards.

New Power Company CEO Eugene Lockhart said last week the consumer backlash to high energy prices this winter and potential push toward reregulation won’t deter his company from becoming the largest retail marketing firm in the nation by early next year. Lockhart said the future is bright for New Power as it enters its first winter in operation with 340,000 retail customers and its sights on obtaining a total of one million in 2001.

Despite the danger of a consumer backlash to soaring energyprices this winter and the potential for reregulation, the CEO ofThe New Power Company, the self-proclaimed first national retailenergy marketing company, believes the future is bright for hiscompany as it enters its first winter in operation.

The natural gas industry should be prepared to face customerrevolts and attempts at price caps, similar to those witnessed thissummer in San Diego if it’s a cold winter and prices continue tohit new highs. That was the warning from government and industryrepresentatives at the crisis conference held by the Interstate Oil& Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) yesterday.