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	From:  "Pergher, Gunther" <Gunther.Pergher@dowjones.com>                      
     12/21/2000 07:43 AM
	

To: undisclosed-recipients:;
cc:  
Subject: DJ PG&E: Util Has "Virtually Exhausted" Financial Resources


14:05 GMT 21 December 2000 DJ PG&E: Util Has "Virtually Exhausted" Financial
Resources
(This article was originally published Wednesday)
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--With rate hike negotiations at a standstill and
forward supply talks in Washington yielding nothing, PG&E Corp.'s (PCG)
regulated utility subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reiterated
Wednesday that it has "virtually exhausted its financial resources."
"We have been borrowing an average of $1 million per hour to pay for the
power we deliver to Californians," utility president Gordon Smith said in a
press release. "No company can continue to operate indefinitely under such
conditions."
Since May, PG&E has spent about $5 billion more on electricity than it gets
paid by its customers, but about a third of that amount has been paid into a
PG&E account for profits from the generators it still owns. The generation
profits, which for now are kept separate from other revenues, are expected
to be used to pay down the utility's debt.
PG&E and Edison International's (EIX) Southern California Edison have said
for two weeks that they could go bankrupt if they don't get a rate increase
immediately. Almost all of the utilities' bonds are recourse to the parent
companies.
Standard & Poor's analysts said Wednesday that the utilities' bonds will be
downgraded severely and immediately if a rate increase isn't agreed to this
week.
"Today's S&P conference call sends a message to Governor Davis and
California's leadership that now is the time for action," Smith said. "The
governor and the California Public Utilities Commission ultimately will
determine if Pacific Gas and Electric Company can continue to provide
essential services to the 14 million Californians in PG&E's service
territory."
The state's Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday on the
issue, and has listed on its agenda the possibility of increasing the
utilities' rates. California Gov. Gray Davis, state lawmakers and utility
executives were also working on a deal.
Those discussions were at a stalemate. There were no talks Wednesday, Davis
spokesman Steve Maviglio said, but the governor updated financial analysts
that consumers are inevitably going to face a rate hike.
Customers pay PG&E $54/MWh for energy, while SCE gets $66/MWh. Both
companies are paid additionally for transmission and distribution. The
utilities have told Davis that they need at least $20/MWh - a rate increase
of about 20% - more for electricity, but the governor wants to keep the
increase to about 10% of rates
S&P analysts said a 10% increase wouldn't be enough to keep the utilities
from defaulting, but the governor's office said an agreement wasn't likely
to be reached soon.
"There's not going to be a percentage deal announced," Maviglio said. "We're
going to ask for greater scrutiny of the utilities' claims."
Consumer groups dismissed the utilities' talk of bankruptcy as "crying
wolf."
"Edison wouldn't have issued a dividend on preferred stock last week if they
were going bankrupt," said Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer and
Consumer Rights.
But if they are really going bankrupt, the state should let them, Heller
said.
"Better a buyout than a bailout," Heller said. "They're not going bankrupt.
But if they do, the better outcome would be a public power system. Under
deregulation, (their inefficiency) it only gets worse."
Also Wednesday, negotiations on long-term supply contracts with western U.S.
electricity suppliers ordered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
adjourned with little progress.
Such deals could have rescued the utilities from the astronomical prices of
the spot market, where power has been trading at $250 a megawatt-hour to
$600/MWh. Five-year supply contracts starting Jan. 1 have been trading at
about $80/MWh.
-By Mark Golden, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4604; mark.golden@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires 12-21-00
0905EST Copyright (c) 2000, Dow Jones & Company Inc


G_nther A. Pergher
Senior Analyst
Dow Jones & Company Inc.
Tel.  609.520.7067
Fax. 609.452.3531

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