Bush Administration Extends Emergency Supply Orders
Despite recent indications that the Bush administration would take a more 
hands-off approach to the California crisis, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham 
late yesterday gave PG&E and Southern California Edison another two weeks of 
breathing room by extending emergency orders requiring gas and power 
suppliers to continue supplying the cash-strapped utilities. The emergency 
gas order now expires at 3 a.m. (EST) Feb. 7. 
In granting the extensions, Abraham urged the state to get to work to solve 
its own problems. He said only California can implement the policies 
necessary to resolve the short-term and long-term supply challenges. "Our 
action today is designed to give the governor, the California legislature and 
other relevant parties the time to take necessary action. I strongly urge the 
parties to act immediately," said Abraham. He also said he was keenly aware 
that other western states have expressed concerns about their own supply 
situation and the impact the order is having on power prices in their areas. 
Despite the action, PG&E said it still is having trouble getting gas 
suppliers to comply with the emergency order originally issued Jan. 19. "The 
gas supply situation is [not good]," utility spokeswoman Staci Homrig said 
yesterday afternoon. "We are quickly depleting our storage. Even under the 
order, J. Aron & Co. [a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs] has not delivered gas. 
They represent about 9% of our daily needs (1.5 Bcf/d in January). 
"Oh yeah, we've been in contact with them," she said. "We've been in contact 
with the DOE, too. The other two suppliers who had stopped delivering gas to 
us last week have made gas available to us under the order. They are Sempra 
Energy Trading and Western Gas Resources." Homrig said PG&E expected DOE to 
take legal action against those who didn't resume deliveries. The order 
applied to 27 gas suppliers, all of which supplied gas to PG&E within the 
last 30 days. 
"There's not a lot I can say," said J. Aron spokeswoman Kate Baum. "J. Aron 
has always complied with the law and we intend to comply with this order. 
That's my statement. I can neither confirm nor deny anything else." 
Meanwhile, other suppliers who were not among those on the DOE's list, were 
staying as far away from California as possible. "All I know is we're not 
selling in California any more. A person could get fired around here for 
doing that," said one marketer. "All we had in California were a few spot 
deals that expired at the end of December. Needless to say we didn't re-up 
them." 
Without the DOE's order, PG&E would be back where it was last week, with some 
suppliers stopping delivery, others planning to stop at the end of their 
contract terms and most suppliers unwilling to sell additional gas to the 
utility. 
PG&E has said it has enough gas in storage to make up for the lost supply 
under such a scenario until the first week in February. Homrig said PG&E's 
storage currently is well below 50% full, or less than 16 Bcf and depleting 
rapidly by about 500 MMcf/d to 1 Bcf/d. PG&E's Pipe Ranger web site shows the 
utility has been averaging about 500 MMcf/d of withdrawals over the past 
several days and is expecting a slight increase over the next few days. 

CA Launches New Buying Program; Supplies Remain Tight
Depending on your perspective, California either moved toward future 
solutions to its nagging energy crisis or took several steps backward 
yesterday with the launch of its electricity bulk buying program for 
long-term, fixed-price supplies. 
The auction began yesterday and will run through noon today. The state is 
seeking sealed bids for six-month, three-year, five-year and 10-year supply 
agreements. Whether results of the auction would be made public was still 
unclear yesterday, but the results are expected to be given to legislators, 
who now are debating various long-term solutions in the state senate. 
A spokesperson in the state Assembly Speaker's office said the legislature is 
basically "standing by," awaiting more price information. Action on the 
proposed comprehensive legislation, including the question of the state 
taking over the private utilities' hydroelectric systems, should come by the 
end of the week. 
Merrill Lynch said yesterday it was "increasingly skeptical" that the 
"securitization for hydro" plan would go forward. It has received "muted 
support," Merrill Lynch said, and has not been drafted as a bill yet. Recent 
revisions of the comprehensive bill show some progress on contract 
flexibility, with the possibility that the value of the entire portfolio of 
energy contracts might be capped at a weighted average price of $55/MWh, 
which is well below the utilities retail rate caps (Edison at $72.40/MWh and 
PG&E at $66). The difference is expected to be used to pay down the 
utilities' debt. 
Meanwhile, the electric system limped along under the specter of another 
Stage Three yesterday, but without rolling blackouts, and elsewhere 
indications outside the state were that some energy marketers have written 
off California from their prospective marketing lists. 
"We're not selling in California any more, a person could get fired for doing 
that around here," said one Texas-based gas marketer, referring to the 
continuing credit problems of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which has been 
hobbled by the weight of its wholesale electricity debts on the natural gas 
side, too. 
In the meantime, Southern California Edison Co. is back in federal district 
court in Los Angeles, where it obtained a favorable initial ruling two weeks 
ago. This time it is asking for the court to force the California Public 
Utilities Commission to allow it to raise its rates to cover the wholesale 
cost of power. 
Calling the action with the court "a last resort," Edison said it has tried 
to get the rate situation resolved, but at every turn it has met "resistance, 
denial and finger-pointing" by the CPUC's five-member governor-appointed 
board. 
The CPUC on Tuesday acted to anticipate new state legislation regarding the 
hydroelectric systems in the state by canceling hearings it had scheduled 
this week and next to go exclusively to written comments for the 
environmental review of the ongoing case looking at PG&E's hydro utility 
assets. "The current energy crisis in the state makes it prudent for the 
commission to shift from public hearings to written testimony," the CPUC said 
in a prepared statement.