Enron Direct and the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association ("AUMA") Seal a Natural Gas Supply Deal
Yahoo
November 13, 2001
 
 
Help Wanted: Enron Trader Resumes Hit The Streets
Dow  Jones Interactive
November 13, 2001
 
 
Media to get access to state power pacts
R Tumble
November 13, 2001
 
 
 
State energy spending plunges 
Water official trumpets decline as cost control
SF Gate News
November 13, 2001


 
 
 
 
 
Enron Direct and the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association ("AUMA") Seal a Natural Gas Supply Deal
 
CALGARY, Nov. 13 /CNW/ - Enron Direct Canada Corp. (Enron Direct), a subsidiary of Enron Corp. (NYSE: ENE <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ene&d=t> - news <http://biz.yahoo.com/n/e/ene.html>) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a long-term natural gas supply and services contract with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association ("AUMA"). 

AUMA regular and associate members have looked to Enron Direct's innovative and flexible energy solutions to answer AUMA's requirements of excellent customer service, competitive pricing and contract flexibility. "Enron Direct is providing AUMA's regular and associate members with a natural gas supply and energy services plan to help them better manage their energy costs. Enron Direct is pleased to be assisting the AUMA and its members by providing energy solutions that will deliver significant financial security." said Darren Cross, Chief Operating Officer of Enron Direct Canada Corp. 

"In this time of uncertainty, municipalities were very interested in attaining a stable price for their utility needs. Predictable gas price will ensure stability, so crucial to municipal budgets." said Lorne Olsvik, President of Alberta Urban Municipalities Association. "The AUMA was looking for a supplier who understood the need for competitive pricing as well as membership flexibility and independence. Alberta municipalities, both small and large, understand how a volatile energy market can affect their bottom line and needed to find a solution to help them manage their gas costs. Enron Direct's innovative products and services meet AUMA's goals and provide the value we are looking for," said John McGowan, Executive Director of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association. 

Regular and associate members of the AUMA include over 200 cities, towns, villages and summer villages as well as municipally related non-profit organizations, boards and commissions. The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association provides leadership in advocating local government interests to the provincial government and other organizations in addition to providing services that address the needs of its membership. 

Enron is one of the world's leading energy, commodities and services companies. The company markets electricity and natural gas, delivers energy and other physical commodities, and provides financial and risk management services to customers around the world. Enron's Internet address is www.enron.com <http://www.enron.com/>. The stock is traded under the ticker symbol "ENE." 

Visit Enron Direct's website at www.enrondirect.com <http://www.enrondirect.com>.

 
 
Help Wanted: Enron Trader Resumes Hit The Streets
 
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- "Noah's Ark" should be the name of the company that emerges from the planned combination of Enron Corp. (ENE) and Dynegy Inc. (DYN), according to energy markets lore these days. 

After all, the logic goes, there will be two of everyone. 

Enron traders aren't so sure of that, as energy firms can attest. 

"In the past 60 days, the number of resumes from Enron personnel has increased substantially," said William Begley, head of the energy and utilities practice at Heidrick & Struggles (HSII), an executive recruiting firm in Houston. 

Resumes are coming from all units at Enron, but the number of those from traders has grown significantly during the period, he added. Other recruiting firms said that Enron traders have become more receptive to unsolicitied headhunting calls lately. 

No one knows for sure how jobs will shake out at Enron, as the company goes through hard times and faces a merger with Dynegy. Recruiters and Enron employees are mixed over how much actual fallout there will be. 

One thing they agree on, though, is that if Enron traders do leave, they aren't guaranteed to find new jobs quickly despite their credentials -- which are regarded as sterling in the energy industry. If energy markets contract as a result of Enron's troubles, the job market for traders could flood. 

Dynegy plans to acquire Enron in a stock swap currently valued at $10.12 billion. The companies confirmed the deal late last week. Shares in both companies rose in heavy trading Monday as investors weighed the planned deal. Some uncertainty remains around the fate of the merger, partly because of the numerous regulatory hurdles it faces. 

Enron, still the largest energy trading company in the world, has suffered a massive setback in the past month. Four weeks ago, a $1.2 billion reduction of shareholder equity kicked off a slide in the company's share price, and prompted a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. 

Recruiters started seeing more resumes from Enron before the company's troubles came to a head. As early as this summer when former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling left the company, employees at the company's non-core units have been looking for jobs, recruiters said. 

Electricity and natural gas traders at Enron have long been considered some of the smartest participants in U.S. energy markets. The company is a market maker in both gas and electricity, meaning that its prices for both commodities are benchmarks for traders throughout the markets. 

Enron led the effort to deregulate U.S. power markets, and has been one of the most vocal lobbyists for deregulation at the state and federal levels over the years. 

"Because Enron is such a large counterparty in the energy trading sector, all of its trading partners, everyone, is hoping the thing gets resolved," said Bruce Peterson, managing director at Korn/Ferry Intl (KFY) in Houston, an executive search company. "The whole industry is definitely affected by what has happened at Enron. Until it's sorted out, you have a tremendous amount of uneasiness. It needs to get resolved." 

It will be essential for Dynegy to keep some of the core leadership from Enron, analysts say. By retaining the best, Dynegy should be able to secure other strong Enron employees. 

"In our view, Enron's energy trading and marketing personnel are arguably the most talented and definitely the most profitable group in the industry," Prudential Securities analyst M. Carol Coale said in a research note Monday. "We believe that Dynegy must focus on retaining these valuable traders and marketers if the new company is to realize its full potential in the wholesale segment." 

Enron President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Whalley, who will be at Dynegy after the merger as an executive vice president, said in a conference call on Monday that he believes the new company will retain its traders. "Most traders want to be part of the winning team," he said. 

Some recruiters believe that although many Enron employees are floating resumes, there won't be much actual fallout. Enron's trading operation employs between 1,000 and 1,500 people in North America; Dynegy's operation is staffed by 300. 

"But with a few trimmings here and there you won't see a lot of Enron traders on the street, unless they don't like what they hear from Dynegy," said Jack Carr managing director of Prime Energy Partnership, a search and recruiting company based in the UK, with an office in Greenwich, Connecticut. 

An experienced energy trader with four years of experience can earn $125,000-$150,000 plus a bonus, according to Carr. 

Right now, Enron traders are feeling disappointed and confused, according to one trader at another company who wouldn't allow his name to be used. 

"I think they're very nervous," the trader said. "The Enron people think they're better than the Dynegy people, and the Dynegy people think 'we're buying them, so we can just pick through their stuff.'" 

 

Media to get access to state power pacts


A coalition of news organizations settled with the governor's office on the only remaining issue in a lawsuit seeking access to the state's contracts with power generators. 

The settlement will require the state to release short-term and spot-market energy contracts within 47 days of the end of each contract period. 

"It's not as soon as we wanted, but it's not the lengthy delay the governor wanted. It's somewhere in between," said Alonzo Wickers, the attorney for the news organizations. 

Spot-market contracts are agreements for 90 days or less, and short-term contracts last 91 days to a year. 

The legal battle began in February, when a handful of news organizations, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, sued Gov. Gray Davis to get information about the contracts under the California Public Records Act. Davis' spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday. 

In June, a Superior Court judge ordered the state to release its long-term contracts, which revealed that the contracts the governor negotiated had bound the state to huge electricity costs through the end of the decade. 

"All the self-congratulatory proclamations from the governor's office about how beneficial these contracts were for the state of California didn't pan out," Wickers said. "It certainly seems the public had a right to know."

 

State energy spending plunges 
Water official trumpets decline as cost control
 
Sacramento -- The state's spending on energy plummeted in October to its lowest level this year, according to figures released yesterday by the Department of Water Resources. 

California spent $415 million on power purchases in October, half of what it spent in August and $264 million less than in September. 

Since January, the state has been purchasing power for the three investor- owned utilities. At the market's peak, the cost of power was an average of $65 million a day. 

October's average was $13.4 million a day. 

"These steep declines in our overall power expenses are an obvious signal that California has accomplished the task of controlling what were once runaway costs in the spot market," said Pete Garris, acting deputy director of the Department of Water Resources, which is in charge of buying the state's power. 

"Each month since May, California has been able to slash hundreds of millions of dollars off its costs," Garris said. "These overall costs are a good measure of how successful we've been in lowering the price of energy." 

However, the department said it did not have figures for how much power the state sold last month. Without those numbers, consumer advocates say, it is impossible to know how well the state is doing. 

"We need to know the entire picture," said Nettie Hoge, executive director of The Utility Reform Network. "If we bought too much and are selling it at a loss, we need to know that." 

Hoge said this is especially important as the state begins to try to renegotiate long-term power contracts. 

Gov. Gray Davis and his administration began negotiating and signing long- term contracts during the height of the energy crisis. Davis and others say the contracts helped drive down the price of power, but critics say the state locked in too much power at too high a price. 

For the three months ending in June, the state sold about $25 million worth of power, at times even giving electricity away. 

"We may need to take a broader look at the contracts," Hoge said. "The downturn in natural gas prices has made a huge difference." That's because much of the electricity on the market is produced by plants that run on natural gas. 

Although the Davis administration has said it is open to renegotiating the contracts, it has made no progress thus far. 

A spokesman for the department said numbers detailing how much power the state has sold will be available later this month.