Coordinating committee,
Let's take Bill up on his generous offer to arrange a conference call next 
week,
and to try to get a speaker list so we can get that established and put out
advertising.  This issue is so hot I'm worried about getting scooped by 
someone
else.  See attached Wall Street Journal article saying the leader of the free
world is now interested.

How is 6pm Eastern/3pm Western as a standard time to have a weekly call?

What days work next week?

I'll send a message Monday with a date, time, and agenda after I hear from
everyone, including Jeff Dasovich who is away til then.
Rob

August 24, 2000
Clinton Seeks Stepped-Up Probe
Into Increasing Electricity Prices
By REBECCA SMITH and JOHN J. FIALKA
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON -- The Clinton Administration and federal energy regulators stepped
up efforts to respond to a politically disastrous rise in California 
electricity
prices, threatening to go as far as re-regulating some prices if they 
determine
that the free-market experiment in the state has failed.
The moves by federal authorities come as California regulators and lawmakers
scramble to come up with an expedient solution to high power prices in the San
Diego area, where monthly bills have in some cases quadrupled since last 
summer.
'Workably Competitive'
In a 21-page order issued Wednesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
said that under the Federal Power Act it can intervene to limit the prices
charged by generators to the California market -- if it determines the prices
they are charging aren't "just and reasonable," and the market is not 
"workably
competitive."
The order accompanied an upgrade of the FERC's effort from a staff probe to a
formal investigation, requested by President Clinton, who also Wednesday
extended $2.6 million in federal emergency loans to low-income residents in 
the
San Diego area to help pay their electric bills.
"There is a crisis of confidence in California wholesale electricity markets
that threatens to erode the political consensus necessary to sustain a
market-based approach to regulation," William Massey, one of four FERC
commissioners, said Wednesday in an opinion attached to the order. "In these
circumstances, the FERC must act forcefully and decisively to ... insist that
jurisdictional wholesale markets produce consumer benefits and just and
reasonable rates."
As prices have risen, power generators such as Duke Energy
</pj/q-quote.cgi?sym=duk&type=company> Co., the local utility, San Diego Gas &
Electric Co. and public officials have all pointed the finger at one another 
for
what appears to be a badly flawed market. California governor Gray Davis, who 
is
pushing for local legislation that would lower bills and accelerate 
power-plant
construction, Wednesday said "out-of-state generators" were most responsible 
for
"bringing San Diego residents to their knees."
FERC's action Wednesday originated in a complaint filed Aug. 2 by San Diego 
Gas
& Electric, a unit of Sempra Energy </pj/q-quote.cgi?sym=sre&type=company>, 
the
utility whose customers have raised the most outrage over the rate rises.
The utility sold off its plants and now buys all the power its customers use 
out
of a state-sanctioned auction, passing those market costs directly through to
its customers.
A Warning to Generators
Steve Baum, Sempra Energy chairman, said FERC's action is a warning to
generators "that the prices they've been receiving are now at risk." He 
expects
FERC to eventually issue a ruling that California's market isn't competitive,
setting the stage for a possible return to cost-based rates in periods of high
demand. Prior to deregulation in 1998, the rates utilities charged for
electricity were based on their underlying cost. Deregulation allowed them to
charge whatever the market would bear.
California's Governor Orders Regulators to Slash Electric Rates in Southern
Areas (Aug. 10)
Mr. Clinton said the FERC investigation would allow Washington to "better
understand" what is happening in the California market so the government can
protect consumers there and in other deregulated states.
While politicians and regulators seek solutions, wholesale power prices in
California are becoming more aberrant.
Even on days when consumption and prices normally drop, such as Sundays, 
prices
have been stubbornly high this summer. For example, the auction price of
electricity to be consumed at 10 p.m. last Sunday was $125.48 per megawatt, or
more than four times the price such power commanded on the third Sunday of
August in 1999. The markup is especially noteworthy because actual demand on
that day was 12% lower than on the comparable day a year earlier.
"A number of people are looking at the high prices trying to figure out what's
going on," says Jesus Arredondo, spokesman for the state-sanctioned entity 
that
runs the state's day-ahead energy auction, the California Power Exchange in
Pasadena, Calif.
These prices have remained high despite the best efforts of public officials.
For instance, the organization that runs the state's electric grid and is
responsible for keeping consumers constantly supplied with electricity has
reduced the maximum price it will pay for electricity this summer to $250 per
megawatt hour from $750. While this action has capped peak prices, it has also
caused an increase in the overall number of hours in which prices are 
abnormally
high.
Take Wednesday for instance. Prices for power in California never dropped 
below
$108 per megawatt hour, even for power contracted for delivery in the dead of
night, and the hourly price was at or above $200 in 13 of 24 hours despite 
only
moderately high demand.
California's problems are likely to step up pressure on Congress to pass 
omnibus
legislation which would provide uniform national rules for deregulated state
energy markets and make more efficient the interstate power-transmission 
system,
Mr. Clinton said Wednesday.
The administration has pushed for such a measure but the House Commerce
Committee, which has jurisdiction over the legislation, still appears 
deadlocked
on the details. It plans to hold a hearing in California on electricity-market
conditions there next month.
-- Marc Lifsher contributed to this article.
Write to Rebecca Smith at rebecca.smith@wsj.com <mailto:rebecca.smith@wsj.com>
and John J. Fialka at john.fialka@wsj.com <mailto:john.fialka@wsj.com>