FYI.  Did we talk to Leopold?  Might be useful to stress that that under 
noncore/core (like Direct Access), customers choose from among a host of 
competing providers for their service, not just Enron.

Best,
Jeff



California Lawmakers Eye Billing Businesses for Edison Rescue 
By Jason Leopold 
? 
18:00 ET 
Dow Jones Business News 
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) 
Dow Jones Newswires 
LOS ANGELES -- California lawmakers are mulling yet another set of ideas for 
rescuing embattled Southern California Edison, and this time businesses would 
be on the hook. 
In an attempt to deflect charges of a bailout that have thus far stymied 
efforts to restore the utility to solvency, legislators are now considering 
ways to shift the burden of financing the rescue from residential ratepayers 
to the state's largest businesses, aides to key state lawmakers said this 
week. 
The ideas being worked over by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, Assembly 
Speaker Robert Hertzberg and Assemblyman Fred Keeley have yet to take shape 
as formal proposals. But an aide to Burton said some key lawmakers are so 
"desperate" to keep Edison International (EIX) utility Southern California 
Edison from following PG&E Corp. (PCG) unit Pacific Gas & Electric into 
bankruptcy court that they are willing to consider anything that will takse 
residential consumers out of the equation. 
"The idea is that the large industrial customers are the ones who pushed for 
deregulation in the first place, so they should be responsible for bailing 
out Edison," the aide said. "We're looking to take the burden off of 
residential ratepayers." 
The premise of a plan discussed by lawmakers on a conference call Thursday is 
to designate Southern California Edison's largest commercial ratepayers as 
non-core customers. Those customers -- some 3,600 users of more than 500 
kilowatt-hours a month -- would be responsible for financing the cost of 
power the utility must purchase or have purchased for it in the wholesale 
market. The non-core customers would also help the utility recoup most of its 
$5.5 billion in unrecovered power costs through a surcharge on their bills. 
Core residential customers would be protected from the wholesale power market 
as the primary beneficiaries of the low-cost power the utilities generate 
themselves or have locked up in long-term contracts. 
Enron Pushing Access to Customers 
Separately, Enron Corp. (ENE) has been lobbying lawmakers for several weeks 
to win approval to sign power-supply contracts with Southern California 
Edison's largest commercial customers, leaving the utility to serve just its 
residential customers and small businesses, aides to Gov. Gray Davis, Messrs. 
Burton and Hertzberg said. 
An Enron executive confirmed that the company sent a four-page proposal to 
Mr. Hertzberg proposing that Southern California Edison's large industrial 
customers sign so-called direct-access contracts with Enron. Enron also has 
recently made a presentation about direct access to some members of the 
California Chamber of Commerce. 
Under the proposal, heavy users would be required to contract directly with 
companies like Enron for their power. 
Direct access was a key part of the state's 1996 deregulation plan, but was 
scrapped early this year when the state started buying wholesale power in 
place of the utilities. 
The core/non-core proposal is one of several being discussed by lawmakers as 
alternatives to a memorandum of understanding Mr. Davis struck with Edison in 
April. The MOU -- which doesn't vary much from an agreement in principle 
reached in February -- has been called dead on arrival by some lawmakers, who 
have been mulling various alternatives rather than moving the agreement 
forward. 
State Sen. Debra Bowen, a Redondo Beach Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate 
energy committee, said there are so many "Plan B's" floating around the 
Legislature that, "We're going to need to hire an apiculturist." 
Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for the governor, said the Davis administration 
is still dedicated to seeing legislation to enact the memorandum of 
understanding move through the Legislature, but said separating the utility's 
"core and non-core" customers would be at the forefront of new discussions. 
It was too early to say whether the governor would support the plan, he said. 
Dominic DiMare, a lobbyist with the California Chamber of Commerce, said the 
chamber has told the Davis administration that shifting the burden of the 
Southern California Edison bailout to businesses is "a very bad idea" that 
could cost the state billions of dollars in economic activity. 
"This [plan] would really screw businesses," Mr. DiMare said. "We just got 
hit with a 50 to 90% rate increase. We're dangerously close to losing our 
businesses to other states." 
Write to Jason Leopold at jason.leopold@dowjones.com 
Copyright (c) 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.