Updated Friday, July 20, 2001 10:08 Pacific Time
Edison loss -- Edison International's second-quarter earnings plunged 89
percent, a bigger drop than expected, as its Southern California Edison
utility paid more for electricity and sold less of it. Profit from
operations fell to $16 million, or 5 cents a share, from net income of
$137.2 million, or 41 cents, a year earlier, spokesman Kevin Kelley said. A
charge related to pending sales of two businesses gave a loss of $102
million, or 31 cents. State lawmakers are considering a rescue plan for
Southern California Edison as it struggles to avoid bankruptcy after
accruing more than $5.4 billion in power-buying losses. The utility sold 5.9
percent less electricity because of conservation efforts and mild weather.
Mark Johnson at bloomberg.com
<http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=marketsquote99_news.ht&s=AO1hfXROuRW
Rpc29u> Christina Cheddar, Dow Jones Newswires
<http://quicken.excite.com/investments/news/story/djbn/?story=/news/stories/

dj/20010720/BT20010720003377.htm&symbol=EIX> -- 7/20/01
Deposing energy execs -- A California Senate committee investigating
manipulation in the state's wholesale power market approved a measure late
Thursday, authorizing the committee to depose the chief executives of major
energy companies to provide insight into the companies' trading practices.
The Senate Select Committee to Investigate Market Manipulation voted 28-6 in
favor of deposing some of the energy sector's most powerful chief
executives. Jason Leopold; Dow Jones Newswires
<http://quicken.excite.com/investments/news/story/djbn/?story=/news/stories/

dj/20010720/BT20010720001903.htm&symbol=PCG> -- 7/20/01
Edison may avoid bankruptcy -- For the first time in months, Southern
California Edison is collecting more money than it is spending on
electricity, a shift that could enable the utility to avoid bankruptcy
without a state intervention as dramatic as the proposed $2.8-billion
purchase of the company's transmission lines. The turnabout has come during
the last several weeks as natural gas prices--a major component in the cost
of electricity--have plummeted and as Edison has collected more money from
customers through a record increase in rates approved by state regulators.
Jerry Hirsch in the Los Angeles Times
<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-000059204jul20.story?coll

=la%2Dheadlines%2Dfrontpage> -- 7/20/01
Edison bailout -- Leading lawmakers conceded they would probably leave on
their summer break without passing legislation aimed at rescuing Southern
California Edison from its financial straits as competing bailouts stalled
in the Legislature Thursday. The Assembly is expected to consider one of two
rival measures to save Edison today, and the Senate is expected to take up
an Edison rescue deal of its own. Miguel Bustillo and Carl Ingram in the Los
Angeles Times
<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-000059243jul20.story?c

oll=la%2Dnews%2Da%5Fsection> -- 7/20/01
More Edison bailout -- An attempt to help Southern California Edison stave
off bankruptcy made incremental progress in the Legislature on Thursday. A
bailout bill proposed by the Senate passed a key committee and reached the
floor of the Senate, which will take it up today. That plan calls for $2.5
billion of Edison's debt to be paid off mainly by large businesses. It was
one of three dueling rescue efforts still alive after another topsy-turvy
day of hearings, closed-door meetings and last-minute changes. In the
Assembly, lawmakers considered rival plans backed by Assembly Speaker Bob
Hertzberg and Assemblyman Rod Wright, both Los Angeles Democrats. John
Howard in the Orange County Register
<http://www.ocregister.com/news/bailout00720cci.shtml> AP's Jennifer Coleman
in the Los Angeles Daily News
<http://www.dailynews.com/news/articles/0701/20/new05.asp> Ed Mendel in the
San Diego Union
<http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/fri/news/news_1n20power.html> --

7/20/01
Two state officials against power deals -- Two California officials are
seeking ways to void the $43 billion in long-term contracts the state has
signed with power suppliers, saying the contracts are unconstitutional and
were negotiated by state consultants who had conflicts of interest.
Secretary of State Bill Jones, a presumed Republican candidate for governor,
on Thursday gave Attorney General Bill Lockyer additional evidence of
possible conflicts of interest involving 34 of 50 consultants and
contractors hired by Gov. Gray Davis' administration. Jones believes they
may have violated state law by failing to disclose their stock holdings in
energy companies, raising questions about the legality of the contracts.
Kate Berry and Mary Ann Milbourn in the Orange County Register
<http://www.ocregister.com/news/connell00720cci.shtml> -- 7/20/01

Energy regulators go high-tech -- Often criticized as the sleeping watchdog
of the nation's power markets, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on
Thursday unveiled a high-tech war room where regulators can now track energy
prices around the country in real time. "We've been fairly blind,"
acknowledged FERC Chairman Curtis L. Hebert Jr., describing an agency that
previously depended on industry and the trade press for information, often
days and weeks late. "In the best case we were getting information 24 hours
after it happened. Now we'll get it immediately." Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in
the Los Angeles Times
<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-000059242jul20.story?c
oll=la%2Dnews%2Da%5Fsection> Jim Puzzanghera in the San Jose Mercury
<http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/nation/docs/watchdog20.htm> --

7/20/01
State advisers forced to sell energy stocks -- One consultant hired by the
state to negotiate long-term electricity contracts owned stock in a company
that signed billion-dollar deals with California. Another fresh hire bought
more than $10,000 in stock in Enron Corp. -- the Houston power trader
frequently vilified by Gov. Gray Davis and lawmakers -- as he helped the
state develop electricity buying strategy. A top Davis lawyer told the two
consultants and seven others on Wednesday morning to sell off stock in
companies like Enron and Calpine Corp. within four hours or lose their jobs.
Mark Martin in the San Francisco Chronicle
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/20/MN75216.DTL>
--
7/20/01
Summer blackout seers missing the mark.. so far -- An unexpected thing
happened on the way to California's summer of darkness - - nothing. Zero
blackouts this summer, thanks to Gray-friendly skies and Californians
conserving power in record amounts. Now the state is so flush with power
that it's selling back the surplus at a loss. Even Disneyland has cranked up
its flashy Electrical Parade again. Still, the doomsayers aren't
backpedaling, merely clarifying their fevered springtime predictions. Like
Michael Zenker, of Cambridge Research Associates. Joe Garofoli in the San
Francisco Chronicle
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/20/MN215347.DTL> -

- 7/20/01
PG&E extends deals -- More than 130 independent power generators have signed
new five-year deals to supply electricity to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The
utility said that as part of the deal, it will pay the generators the
estimated $740 million it owes them, once its reorganization plan is
accepted in bankruptcy court. Jennifer Bjorhus in the San Jose Mercury
<http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/nation/docs/QF20.htm> -- 7/20/01

Spencer Abraham -- In San Francisco to stump for President Bush's energy
plans, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham yesterday praised California's
conservation efforts but insisted that frugality alone would not solve the
power crisis. Abraham, speaking to a group of Bay Area business leaders,
warned against the perception that the crisis is lessening even though
rolling blackouts haven't materialized this summer as expected. David R.
Baker in the San Francisco Chronicle
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/20/MN238054.DTL>
AP's Karen Gaudette in the San Diego Union
<http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/fri/news/news_1n20abraham.html> --

7/20/01
Wilson says Davis ignored warnings about energy -- Former Gov. Pete Wilson,
who signed the controversial 1996 energy deregulation bill into law, blasted
his successor Gray Davis yesterday for failing to aggressively use the
governor's most forceful tool -- emergency powers -- to contain the state's
energy crisis. "There are people who have ignored the supply and tried to
blame the crisis on everyone else," the Republican former governor told
nearly 100 academics and reporters at the Public Policy Institute in San
Francisco yesterday. Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/20/MN187903.DTL>

Michael Bazeley in the San Jose Mercury
<http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/nation/docs/wilson20.htm> -- 7/20/01
Democrats defy Davis with bill on PUC -- Lawmakers moved with lightning
speed yesterday to undo a plan that would force California regulators to
raise electricity rates whenever state power buyers deem it necessary. A
hastily introduced bill pits Democratic lawmakers against the administration
of Gov. Gray Davis, which is counting on the state Public Utilities
Commission to approve rate increases to pay for electricity without
questioning whether the state got a good price. Lynda Gledhill in the San
Francisco Chronicle
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/20/MN222719.DTL>
-
- 7/20/01
Senate passes natural gas bill -- A bill that could put Long Beach and its
oil drilling partners in the wildcatting business received a unanimous vote
in the state Senate on Thursday, despite a last-minute attempt to saddle it
with controversial amendments. Assembly Bill 27XX by Alan Lowenthal, D-Long
Beach, now returns to the Assembly, where it already enjoyed similarly
overwhelming support. Once it is confirmed by that house, it will go to the
governor. Will Shuck in the Long Beach Press
<http://www.ptconnect.com/archive/news/capitol.asp> -- 7/20/01

Utility debts are still the toughest nut to crack -- When Gov. Gray Davis
and other state politicians finally became engaged in the energy crisis last
January -- a half-year late -- the state's major investor-owned utilities
had already amassed more than $13 billion in debt from runaway power costs
and were out of credit. Davis and the Legislature launched a massive state
power purchase program, a speed-up of new power plants, conservation
subsidies and other actions, not all of which have been successful. But
everyone involved knew that the utilities' debts, which had driven them to
the brink of bankruptcy, would be the most complex and politically difficult
aspect of the crisis. Six months later, that's still true. Dan Walters in
the Sacramento Bee
<http://www.capitolalert.com/news/capalert03_20010720.html> -- 7/20/01

Budget still stalled -- Assembly Republicans made good on their threat
Thursday to block legislation needed to implement California's estimated
$101-billion budget. But Democratic and GOP leaders were negotiating a
possible settlement late Thursday night to resolve their differences so that
the spending plan and accompanying legislation could be sent to the Senate
in time for the Legislature to recess starting today. Julie Tamaki in the
Los Angeles Times
<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-000059393jul20.story

?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dpe%2Dcalifornia> Robert Salladay in the San Francisco
Chronicle
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/20/MN26564.DTL>
John Hill in the Sacramento Bee
<http://www.capitolalert.com/news/capalert01_20010720.html> -- 7/20/01
Copyright , 2001 Rough & Tumble