The IPPNY/SSK communications effort for NY is finally a go!  Since I will be 
on a train from Philly to NYC tomorrow during the Leadership call the 
following is a quick summary of what's going on in NY.

IPPNY/EPSA
Gavin Donohue, Mark Stultz and myself met Tuesday for lunch and discussed 
each organizations' communications efforts and the need for coordination 
given the overlap in membership, the dual focus on NYC, and the costs 
involved.  

The EPSA effort is a "reassurance" campaign for states who have already begun 
deregulation but who might be nervous to proceed after witnessing the CA 
debacle.
EPSA is working with the Chamber of Commerce and is focused on four markets 
(Boston, NYC, Baltimore and DC).
EPSA contracted with a PR firm out of Austin, TX and they have already 
developed 3 broadcast advertising spots (Mark is on the steering committee 
and should have access to the spots) 
EPSA shared the spots with SSK and IPPNY yesterday (which SSK didn't like 
very much)
The ads would run on PBS and cable - the media buys have not been purchased 
yet.
Apparently EPSA developed the ads and are running them past focus groups as 
we speak
Interestingly enough, the spot which they developed for the eastern states 
used the word deregulation over and over (a word that is not popular here).  
AND when tested among the opinion elites - they didn't know who PJM was!! 
Lastly, the accompanying print ad isn't that impressive.
Mark will have access  to the ads and - as a steering committee member - will 
have the opportunity to weigh in on the ad and decide whether to move to the 
second phase of funding.
The good news is that EPSA has agreed to not interfere with what IPPNY is 
doing in NY and will work with us as our efforts evolve.

IPPNY/SSK
During our meeting on Tuesday, we finalized the initial press release, and 
agreed on the inserts for the press kit.  Apparently, Hillary Clinton and 
other members of the NY delegation are holding an energy roundtable on 
Monday.  IPPNY's press release will go out over the wires Monday around 11:00 
am and will hopefully get dual coverage from reporters who are covering 
Hillary's event.  I'll forward to you the final release but it generally says 
that IPPNY is unveiling its Energy Solutions Program - a five point action 
plan to address the long and short term energy needs of NY (designed to avoid 
a CA-style energy crisis).  The plan includes energy conservation (which was 
on the top of new yorkers minds in the statewide poll), accelerated siting 
process, creation of an efficient, multi-state energy marketplace, upgrading 
the state's power transmission system and encouraging utilities to enter into 
contracts that protect consumers from volatile energy prices.

Gavin will be back in NYC on July 10th for media training and SSK is in the 
process of lining him up for meetings with press outlets and other 
organizations.  

We're also planning to schedule him at various events around the state which 
deal with energy issues.

We hope to host some sort of energy roundtable of our own at the IPPNY fall 
meeting in October.

As for advertising, we don't have the funds or the commitment today but after 
we launch this effort we're going to pull the participating companies 
together to have a discussion about advertising and to guage whether they 
want to support it with additional funds. 

I'll get you final copies of the release and press kit as soon as they are 
put together. 

To date, Enron is in for 50K in NY but it's been an expensive three months of 
research, and prep time and materials so managing the budget is going to be 
an issue throughout the summer.  

I will be in PJM all day Thursday to cover PJM's initial meeting for the 
development of their communications office and get a rundown of their plans 
for "messaging"