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This story appeared on http://www.individual.com December 11, 2000
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California ISO Files Emergency Action With FERC to Deal With Electricity 
Supply Crisis



FOLSOM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation  -
While grappling
with another Stage Two Emergency today, the California Independent
System Operator (California ISO) is taking swift action to deal with a
critical shortage of bids in the ISO market as well as serious
underscheduling of electricity in the forward markets. The proposed
market changes create the incentive to sell power in existing markets
and allow the ISO to compete better for regional energy, which is in
short supply throughout the western United States.


This afternoon, the ISO filed an emergency tariff Amendment 33
filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Commencing at 3:00 p.m. today Friday, December 8, 2000, the California
ISO will implement a $250 "soft cap" on the ISO's Real-Time Energy
Market similar to that proposed by FERC in its November 1 Order
Proposing Remedies for California Wholesale Electric Markets (93 FERC
61,121).


Analogous to the soft cap proposed by FERC, Energy bids prices in
excess of $250/MWh will no longer be rejected by the ISO's
computerized scheduling system but, instead, will be evaluated in
price merit order. The California ISO has recently been placed in the
position of having to negotiate prices for power in real-time and is
finding it increasingly difficult to manage these negotiations while
at the same time balancing supply and demand; causing significant risk
to the California ISO's ability to maintain reliable control of the
power grid. The ISO will no longer negotiate prices in real-time. To
the extent the ISO issues dispatch instructions to Scheduling
Coordinators (market participants) for energy bid prices in excess of
the $250 soft cap, then settlement will be as-bid, subject to refund,
if the costs cannot be verified. Market participants will be required
to submit cost documentation to the FERC, with informational filings
to the ISO and the state, supporting any Energy payments priced in
excess of the soft cap.


The current $250 price cap in Ancillary Service capacity bids is
unaffected. Also, the market clearing prices for Ancillary Services
and Imbalance Energy will continue to be calculated and posted up to
the $250 soft cap.


Amendment 33 proposes three key elements:


1. Implement a "soft cap" of $250/MWh for Imbalance Energy. This
soft cap would limit market clearing prices to $250/MWh, but would
allow market participants to submit bids over $250 if they submit
verifiable costs.


2. Allocate the costs for energy purchases above the soft cap to
Scheduling Coordinators who rely on the ISO's real-time energy
purchases to meet their loads, rather than buying their own supplies
in the forward markets; and


3. Impose penalties on Participating Generators that fail to
comply with ISO dispatch instructions. Amendment 33 is posted on the
ISO's website at www.caiso.com under FERC FILINGS on the home page.


The ISO has seen a dramatic increase in costs for the power it
buys in real time. For the first five days of December we averaged
approximately $5 million per day. However, on December 5th we paid $36
million, December 7th $81 million. Failure to take action now would
have the local utilities and ultimately their customers continue to
face these extraordinary costs.


The California ISO is charged with managing the flow of
electricity along the long-distance, high-voltage power lines that
make up the bulk of California's transmission system. The
not-for-profit public-benefit corporation assumed the responsibility
in March, 1998, when California opened its energy markets to
competition and the state's investor-owned utilities turned their
private transmission power lines over to the California ISO to manage.
The mission of the California ISO is to safeguard the reliable
delivery of electricity, facilitate markets and ensure equal access to
a 12,500 circuit mile "electron highway."


Teleconference for More Information
-0-
*T
When:      Friday, December 8, 2000 at 3:30 p.m. PST
Phone:     800/374-1387
Passcode:  energy
*T



CONTACT: California ISO |              Patrick Dorinson, 888/516-NEWS


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