Progress

California officials last week announced a deal with its small qualifying facility (QF) generators and progress in creating what its governor is calling a “pincer movement” between Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to force lower wholesale prices. Gray Davis was ebullient in claiming a “day of accounting” is coming for merchant generators in which they either take heavy discounts on monies owed them, or substantial decreases (federal price caps) in power prices going forward.

California officials Wednesday announced a deal with its small qualifying facility (QF) generators and progress in creating what its governor is calling a “pincer movement” between Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to force lower wholesale prices. Gray Davis was ebullient in claiming a “day of accounting” is coming for merchant generators in which they either take heavy discounts on monies owed them, or substantial decreases (federal price caps) in power prices going forward.

In the absence of any definitive regulatory or legislative moves as yet to implement a three-week-old memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the governor, Southern California Edison officials Tuesday acknowledged that creditors and other parts of the financial community are afraid the utility will join the state’s other major investor-owned utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, in bankruptcy court.

California’s ever-changing electricity saga ended the firstquarter of 2001 as it started the year – a work in progress. Itsscope widened again last week with regulators, legislators and thecourts working overtime to keep up. Supplies remained tight withthree Stage Two power alerts called during the week.

There appeared to be nothing in the way of concrete progress towardresolving the California energy crisis, as much-talked about long termpower contracts have failed to materialize, and negotiations areapparently just beginning on the plan of state politicos to buy outthe power lines of the state’s investor-owned utilities (see DailyGPI, Feb. 20)

Even though “bailout” has become a dirty word as Californiagovernment leaders in Sacramento hammer out more comprehensiveresponses to the state’s electricity woes, San Diego-based SempraEnergy’s CEO Stephen Baum says there is a light at the end of thetunnel.

A consortium of 21 energy and utility companies have formed anew company, Pantellos Corp., to operate an e-procurement web siteannounced earlier this year, and hired a tech company to developit.

Since mid-1995, exponential growth of the Internet has broughtthe number of pages on the World Wide Web from about seven millionto approximately 800 million by mid-1999, according to a statisticcited by Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB) Executive Director RaeMcQuade.

Since mid-1995, exponential growth of the Internet has broughtthe number of pages on the World Wide Web from about seven millionto approximately 800 million by mid-1999, according to a statisticcited by Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB) Executive Director RaeMcQuade.