The well
Houston Chronicle, 04/08/01

Enron Takes Indian Dispute to Arbitration Court, FT Reports
Bloomberg, 04/08/01

Like it or not, DivX emerges as format of choice for online movies
Associated Press Newswires, 04/08/01

DPC should reduce high tariff rate, NCP chief Sharad Pawar
Press Trust of India Limited, 04/07/01

Mahashtra industrial output on a decline: Pawar
The Times of India, 04/07/01

ENRON IS PLANNING TO ELIMINATE ABOUT 250 JOBS
The New York Times, 04/07/01

THE CALIFORNIA ENERGY CRISIS Pacific Gas' Filing Hits Other Stocks Wall St.: 
Fear of exposure to the utility has investors reacting negatively to the 
shares of its major lenders, power suppliers and bond insurers.
Los Angeles Times, 04/07/01

The convergence revolution can wait, but can investors?
The Globe and Mail, 04/07/01

Hits of the Week
Houston Chronicle, 04/07/01

ENRON ASKS POMPANO TO PUT OFF PLANT VOTE FOES CALL REQUEST A TACTIC TO STOP 
RALLY BY PROTESTERS
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 04/07/01

PG&E BANKRUPTCY TO BE COSTLY LONG, SERPENTINE PROCESS AHEAD FOR UTILITY; 
INVESTOR UNLIKELY TO SEE RETURNS ON INVESTMENTS ANYTIME SOON
The Press Democrat Santa Rosa, CA, 04/07/01

PG&E Creditors Are Lining Up / BofA, local generators owed billions by utility
The San Francisco Chronicle, 04/07/01

Enron to Cut 20% of Workforce at Broadband Unit, Reuters Says
Bloomberg, 04/07/01

Maharashtra Won't Make Payment to Enron Venture, Paper Says
Bloomberg, 04/07/01



BUSINESS
The well
The well
Staff

04/08/2001
Houston Chronicle
2 STAR
16
(Copyright 2001)

Enron Energy Services announced a long-term energy management agreement with 
J.C. Penney Co. valued at more than $600 million. 
Through the agreement, Enron will manage the supply of electricity at more 
than 1,250 Penney locations in 50 states. Enron also will replace or update 
energy equipment to reduce consumption.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. announced results from the Fife Unit No. 2 well in 
Central Texas. 
Located in the Navasota River field of Washington County, the well flowed at 
a rate of 51 million cubic feet of gas per day. The well reached a total 
vertical depth of 14,080 feet and was drilled laterally for almost 5,000 
feet. Anadarko has a 100 percent working interest. 
Anadarko's net volumes in Central Texas have grown to more than 235 million 
cubic feet of gas per day and 14,700 barrels of oil per day. The company 
operates nine rigs throughout the region. 
ATP Oil & Gas Corp. acquired six producing properties in the Gulf of Mexico 
that will add about $1.4 million to its monthly cash flow. The properties 
were acquired from an international oil company. Financial terms were not 
disclosed. 
During January, the properties produced approximately 7 million cubic feet of 
natural gas per day and 340 barrels of oil per day. The properties have 
proven and undeveloped reserves. 
This is the second Gulf of Mexico property package acquired by ATP since its 
initial public offering in February. 
Renewable Energy Systems and Cielo Wind Power LLC completed a deal to 
construct a wind power facility on King Mountain near McCamey in West Texas. 
The companies are based in Austin. 
The project will consist of 214 wind turbines with capacity to produce 278.2 
megawatts. The amount is enough to supply power to around 139,100 homes. It 
will save, over its 20-year life, the emission of nearly 20 million tons of 
carbon dioxide, the companies said. 
Bonus A/S of Denmark will supply the wind turbines, which produce 1.3 
megawatts of power each. 
Electricity generated by the facility will be sold to Reliant Energy of 
Houston, under a 15-year contract for 198.9 megawatts of the capacity, to 
Austin Energy, under a 10-year contract for 76.7 megawatts of capacity, and 
to Texas-New Mexico Power for the remaining 2.6 megawatts. It will be owned 
and operated by FPL Energy LLC, the U.S. subsidiary of Renewable Energy 
Systems Ltd. Construction will begin immediately and the wind ranch will be 
fully operational before the end of the year.

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 


Enron Takes Indian Dispute to Arbitration Court, FT Reports
2001-04-08 20:10 (New York)


     Bombay, April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Enron Corp. is taking its
dispute with India's Maharashtra state government to an
arbitration court after the government decided not to pay a 1.02
billion rupee ($20 million) bill, the Financial Times said on its
Web site.
     The government wouldn't pay the bill from an Enron venture
for electricity charges until Enron pays penalties imposed by the
Maharashtra State Electricity Board for ``certain technical
violations,'' the newspaper said.
     Enron is confident it can resolve the penalty issue in its
favor, saying the Indian electricity board is raising frivolous
claims in an attempt to avoid payments, the report said.
     Enron's $3 billion power project in Maharashtra is the
biggest foreign investment in India, the FT said.



Like it or not, DivX emerges as format of choice for online movies
By RON HARRIS
Associated Press Writer

04/08/2001
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - For the movie industry, a small piece of software called 
DivX holds the same promise and peril that the MP3 audio format presented to 
the record labels. 
DivX has already shown the potential to become a de facto Internet standard - 
and the basis for a California startup that hopes to make it the compressed 
digital video format of choice.
Thousands of film buffs have discovered that DivX can be a real alternative 
to paying for movies, just as Napster and MP3 allow music fans to trade 
millions of songs for free. 
"Sometimes I rent a DVD at a local rental store, I `rip' it and send it 
back," said Bruce Heller of Paris. "I know it's illegal, but I think it's 
better to rent a movie each week than buying a DVD or two each year." 
DivX compresses full-length movies into sizes small enough to be sent on the 
Internet and stored on a single compact disk. Using DeCSS software to crack 
the Content Scrambling System on DVDs, Heller copies movies using DivX onto 
his own CDs and loans them to friends. 
"We are only at the beginning of the movie piracy, and it's growing fast," 
Heller said. "Who would not be interested in it?" 
The challenge for Hollywood and technology companies is to create a popular, 
yet secure standard for online video delivery before the movie industry 
suffers the same losses that record labels have seen. 
Publicly, Hollywood is enthusiastic about a future in which movies can be 
delivered directly to personal computers over the Internet. 
DivX, like other video compression technologies, could provide the answer if 
coupled with strong security measures, said Jack Valenti, head of the Motion 
Picture Association of America. 
"I think the technology is wonderful," Valenti said. "I don't see it as a 
tool of piracy. I see it as a convenience to consumers who want to bring down 
legitimate licensed films." 
DivXNetworks, a small San Diego-based startup, hopes to make DivX the format 
of choice for Hollywood. It wants to negotiate revenue-sharing deals with 
companies looking to sell content online - but hasn't succeeded in cutting 
any deals with major studios. 
Jordan Greenhall, the company's chief executive and co-founder, said 
DivXNetworks' only legitimate customers so far use DivX to deliver video of 
monster truck contests and Japanese animation shorts. 
The company faces formidable challenges from Microsoft Corp., which showed 
the power of the Windows Media format last month by delivering a half-hour 
film starring John Cleese to a Pittsburgh theater via the Net. 
RealNetworks Inc. also offers a secure format for "streaming" video content 
online and can leverage MusicNet, its online music subscription venture with 
AOL Time Warner and Bertelsmann AG. 
Without major backers, DivXNetworks has turned to the power of the Internet, 
posting the DivX source code online and encouraging programmers to retool and 
improve it. 
DivXNetworks hopes DivX will become so popular that Hollywood will decide to 
make it the standard, in the same way that record labels have grudgingly 
accepted MP3s as the way to deliver music. 
But even if DivX becomes as popular as MP3, it faces other challenges. 
For one thing, although Greenhall says security measures can be incorporated 
into DivX, the code is already loose on the Internet, where unsecured 
versions may prove devilishly difficult to tame. 
Also, Microsoft claims DivXNetworks uses technology stolen from Windows 
Media. 
"It's our technology and they've essentially re-branded it," said Michael 
Aldridge of Microsoft's Digital Media division. "It's like taking a 
Volkswagen, taking the brand Volkswagen off the hood and putting DivX on it." 
Greenhall denied that his company lifted Microsoft's code, saying the latest 
version of the software was programmed from scratch. 
The notion of piping movies on demand straight to desktops over high-speed 
Internet connections stalled last month when video rental chain giant 
Blockbuster Inc. canned a deal with Enron Broadband Services. Each company 
blamed the other for a lack of commitment. 
Robin Diedrich, an entertainment industry analyst with Edward Jones, said 
eight to 10 years could pass before consumers have full catalogs of movies 
online, particularly because most consumers still connect to the Net through 
telephone wires. 
Downloading a full-length DivX movie using phone wiring could take days, 
compared with a few hours using high-speed T1 lines or cable modems. 
Diedrich also said studios would be leery of anything that could reduce 
revenues from theaters and video rentals. 
Valenti said online versions will likely appear only after films are 
delivered to theaters, airlines, home video and pay-per-view. 
He also said the studios he represents haven't endorsed any particular file 
format. They only urge that any movies delivered online be encoded with 
enough security measures to prevent unauthorized copying. 
But hackers aren't waiting. Both the DivX codec - techie shorthand for a 
software program used to compress and decompress video and audio data - and 
DeCSS software are freely available on the Internet. 
The Hollywood trade group is fighting back, cruising through newsgroups, Web 
sites and chat rooms for DivX movie traders. 
Hemanshu Nigam, the MPAA's director of Internet enforcement, expects to send 
20,000 cease-and-desist letters to people who illegally trade copyrighted 
movies this year. That's 10 times the number sent out in 2000. 
And that's just the people actively trading movies. Any number of people 
could be building their own collections in secret, or trading DivX movies in 
less public ways. 
Daniel Lukis of Chicago uses the software to digitally store home movies and 
some of his favorite "Seinfeld" episodes. 
Keeping copies of sitcoms is legally permissible for personal home use, but 
if Lukis decided to share those files online he would run the risk of 
copyright infringement. He fears the pirates may hamper the development of 
DivX as a legitimate software tool. 
"Like with all new forms of technology, someone will devise a way to exploit 
it," said Lukis, who moderates an online DivX discussion forum. "These people 
give a bad name to DivX, as Napster did to MP3, and the honest users of the 
formats are suffering because of that." 
--- 
On the Net: 
http://www.projectmayo.com 
http://www.divxnetworks.com 
http://www.fm4.org 
http://www.mpaa.org

With AP Photos FX101,102 of April 4. 

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 


DPC should reduce high tariff rate, NCP chief Sharad Pawar

04/07/2001
Press Trust of India Limited
(c) 2001 PTI Ltd.

Mumbai, Apr 7 (PTI) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar, 
during whose tenure as Maharashtra Chief Minister, the Power Purchase 
Agreement (PPA) with US-based Enron promoted Dabhol Power Company (DPC) was 
worked out, has demanded "the energy major should reduce its high power 
tariff charged to MSEB (Maharashtra State Electricity Board)". 
"It is a fact that Maharashtra will not be able to bear the financial burden 
on account of DPC's enormous bills when the PPA's second phase is 
implemented", he told reporters here.
Pawar said there was a need of +a pragmatic approach+ to deal with the 
controversial project and his impression being that the Federal govt was 
willing to help the state government in finding a lasting solution to the 
problem. 
He also noted with concern that demand for industrialised power in 
Maharashtra was reducing, thus indicating a decline in production. 
Replying to a question, the NCP supremo informed that the high DPC tariff in 
state did not figure in his breakfast meeting with the former US President 
Bill Clinton. 
(THROUGH ASIA PULSE) 07-04 2001


Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 


Mahashtra industrial output on a decline: Pawar
The Times of India News Service

04/07/2001
The Times of India
Copyright (C) 2001 The Times of India; Source: World Reporter (TM)

MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar rang the alarm bell 
here on Friday by stating that industrial production in Maharashtra was on 
the decline. ``Consumption of power by the industrial sector has gone down 
from 56 per cent to 32 per cent which indicates a decline in industrial 
production," he told mediapersons. 
He said during the past four years not a single new project with foreign 
funding has been set up in Maharashtra even though there is a need to attract 
fresh investment in the state. "It is an alarming signal,'' he warned.
His observations are quite candid considering the fact that his party is a 
major constituent of the ruling Democratic Front government in the state and 
has been in office for the past more than one year. Mr Pawar also expressed 
his displeasure over the manner in which the Enron power project issue was 
being handled by the parties concerned. 
Mr Pawar stated this soon after a breakfast meeting with former US president 
Bill Clinton. But, he emphasised that the Enron issue was not discussed with 
Mr Clinton. He said talks with the ex-President centered around the 
management of the post-quake situation in Gujarat. 
Breaking his silence over the controversial issue of payment to Enron's 
Dabhol Power Company by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, Mr Pawar 
said ," We have to wait and see what the Madhav Godbole committee has to 
suggest in this regard.'' The state government has referred the issue to an 
expert panel led by retired bureaucrat Madhav Godbole. Mr Pawar had approved 
the first phase of the controversial power project. He said differences 
between Enron, MSEB and the state government should be resolved amicably 
through negotiations. 
``The second phase of the Enron power project is not affordable. But we have 
no option since the previous Shiv Sena-BJP alliance which talked of drowning 
the entire project in the Arabian Sea entered into an agreement with Enron 
and approved phase II also. Now, we have to ensure that Enron's burden on 
consumers is minimal," Mr Pawar said. 
" We should tell Enron that we cannot purchase power at such a high rate and 
find out some solution. The Maharashtra state may not require power now but 
the demand is certainly going to increase in future . Till then, the Enron 
can sell power to the national grid and provide it to the regions where there 
is shortage of power,", Mr Pawar said. 
``I was under impression that the Union government is agreeable to this 
proposal. But I read in the newspapers that the Centre is not going to foot 
the bill for Enron power ,'' Mr Pawar added. 
"I was under the impression that correspondence between a chief minister and 
the Prime Minister of the country is a confidential document. But I read (in 
the newspapers) about what the Maharashtra chief minister has written in his 
letter to the Prime Minister regarding the Enron controversy", he said. 
" There is talk of a commission of inquiry being set up. The commission of 
inquiry may take two years to complete its task and finalise its 
recommendations. But what about the monthly bills being submitted by Enron to 
MSEB? I think the need is to adopt a pragmatic approach and solve the 
problem,", Mr Pawar said. 
The Godbole committee has finalised its recommendation and the committee is 
scheduled to submits its anxiously awaited report to the state government by 
April 10. 
Asked whether he had given any advice to the state government since his party 
is a part of the ruling coalition, Mr Pawar said," I have not given any 
advice to anyone. I do not give advice unless it is sought. And so far no one 
has asked for my advice."

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 


Business/Financial Desk; Section C
COMPANY NEWS
ENRON IS PLANNING TO ELIMINATE ABOUT 250 JOBS
Reuters

04/07/2001
The New York Times
Page 3, Column 1
c. 2001 New York Times Company

The Enron Corporation, the energy trading company, said yesterday that it 
would eliminate about 250, or 20 percent, of the jobs at its broadband 
telecommunications unit. An Enron Broadband Services spokeswoman, Kelly 
Kimberly, said the company was cutting jobs at the unit, which now employs 
1,150 people, because it had completed its 18,000-mile fiber optic network 
and because of slow demand for streaming media products delivered to personal 
computers.

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 



Business; Financial Desk
THE CALIFORNIA ENERGY CRISIS Pacific Gas' Filing Hits Other Stocks Wall St.: 
Fear of exposure to the utility has investors reacting negatively to the 
shares of its major lenders, power suppliers and bond insurers.
JAMES F. PELTZ
TIMES STAFF WRITER

04/07/2001
Los Angeles Times
Home Edition
C-1
Copyright 2001 / The Times Mirror Company

Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s bankruptcy filing sparked a sell-off in stocks 
of the utility's major lenders, power suppliers and bond insurers Friday, as 
investors feared that the companies' earnings would be hurt by the 
reorganization and that Southern California Edison might take the same route. 
Shares of the utilities' own parent companies, PG&E Corp. and Edison 
International, respectively, also were hammered, even though PG&E and its 
other subsidiaries did not join Pacific Gas & Electric in filing under 
Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy laws.
PG&E plunged $4.18, or 37%, to $7.20 a share, and Edison tumbled $4.39, or 
35%, to $8.25 a share, both on the New York Stock Exchange. Sempra Energy, 
California's other major investor-owned utility, was off $1.85 to $22.30, 
also on the NYSE. 
Under Chapter 11, Pacific Gas & Electric will keep operating, but its 
existing debts are frozen while the company works out a plan to pay its 
creditors. However, financial overhauls under Chapter 11 often result in 
creditors getting less than full payment. 
"There's a fear they will not be paid what they're owed up to this point," 
said Linda Byus, who follows power-generating companies for the investment 
firm Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Chicago. "There is the possibility 
they won't get 100 cents on the dollar." 
Robert Glynn Jr., chairman of San Francisco-based PG&E and Pacific Gas & 
Electric, said Friday that "our goal is to pay all our bills in full" under 
the reorganization. The presence of a U.S. bankruptcy judge should help 
finalize what have been unproductive negotiations between the utilities, 
state regulators and the companies' creditors, he added. 
But Wall Street was skeptical as investors pounded most of the stocks of 
Pacific Gas & Electric's bank lenders, bond insurers and power suppliers. 
Bank of America fell $2.26 to $49.59 a share, and J.P. Morgan Chase lost 
$2.11 to $40.39, Bank of New York--the utility's biggest creditor with $2.21 
billion in outstanding loans--fell 96 cents to $48.34, and Bank One skidded 
$1.29 to $33.61 a share, all on the NYSE. 
"The stocks sold off in part due to the concerns of possible losses stemming 
from the bankruptcy filing," said Joe Morford, a bank analyst with brokerage 
firm Dain Rauscher Wessels in Minneapolis. "There could eventually be a hit 
to their earnings." 
Power generators supplying electricity to California also saw their stocks 
fall sharply. They included Duke Energy Corp., which lost $2.30 to $40.10 a 
share; Enron Corp, down $2.20 to $53.50; Dynegy Inc., off $3.42 to $47.50; 
and Calpine Corp., down $3.66 to $47 a share, all on the NYSE. But AES Corp. 
bucked the trend and rose 97 cents to $43.97 on the NYSE. 
Stocks of companies that provide bond insurance for certain of the utilities' 
credit investors also were hit hard. MBIA Inc. plummeted $7.69 to $75.10 a 
share on the NYSE, even though the company said, "MBIA-insured bondholders 
will receive all their principal and interest payments as scheduled." The 
company said its insurance exposure covers about $590 million of Pacific Gas 
& Electric bonds. 
Another insurer, Ambac Financial Group Inc., dropped $2.98 to $59.97 a share 
on the NYSE. The company said it's guaranteed $68.7 million of the utility's 
first mortgage bonds, which are secured by collateral. 
Although there's a risk that all of these companies with exposure to Pacific 
Gas & Electric could suffer some financial damage, Wall Street might have 
overreacted to the threat Friday, analysts said. 
Take the big banks, for instance. "In the grand scheme of things, their 
exposure is not that big relative to the size of their overall loan 
portfolios," said Morford of Dain Rauscher. 
In the short run, the banks "are likely to record these [debts] as 
nonperforming assets and their problem-loan numbers will rise," but those 
sums would not immediately be subtracted from the banks' profits, he added. 
It's also possible that a plan to repay the banks in full could be worked out 
in Bankruptcy Court before they have to write off the debts, he said. 
Also, several of the power generators already have set aside cash reserves in 
case Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison couldn't pay for 
power they had already purchased, noted Byus of Dresdner Kleinwort. 
Still, "there is the risk that the reserves are not sufficient" to cover the 
utilities' shortfalls, she said. "We will have to see in the companies' 
first-quarter results." 
One company that hasn't set aside reserves yet is Calpine, a San Jose-based 
power generator that's among Pacific Gas & Electric's largest unsecured 
creditors. Calpine has yet to be paid for nearly $300 million worth of power 
it has sold to Pacific Gas & Electric, said Calpine spokesman Bill 
Highlander. 
Calpine hasn't created a reserve yet because "we remain confident that PG&E 
will pay us the full amount" owed to the company, he said. And the 
debt-rating agency Standard & Poor's said Friday that the filing shouldn't 
impact Calpine's own credit ratings, because Calpine has several projects 
outside of California and $589 million in cash. 
* 
* POWER CRISIS 
California's largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, filed for bankruptcy. 
A1 . . . The effect is unknown, but the potential damage to suppliers and 
bond raters, among others, could hurt the state. A1 
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC) 
Energy Fallout 
Stocks of banks, power generators and bond insurers with exposure to Pacific 
Gas & Electric fell sharply after the giant utility filed for bankruptcy 
protection. Shares of PG&E, the utility's parent company, also fell Friday, 
as did the stocks of California's two other major investor-owned utility 
holding companies-- Sempra Energy and Edison International. But some analysts 
said Wall Street might have overreacted to the financial threat faced by the 
companies. 
PG&E 
PG&E Weekly closes for PG&E (ticker: PCG) on NYSE 
Friday: $7.20, down $4.18 
Edison International 
Weekly closes for Edison (ticker: EIX) on NYSE 
Friday: $8.25, down $4.39 
Sempra Energy 
Weekly closes for Sempra (ticker: SRE) on NYSE 
Friday: $22.30, down $1.85 
Related companies 
Friday Point %
Company close change change
UnionBanCal $26.50 --2.74 --9.4%
MBIA 75.10 --7.69 --9.3
Calpine 47.00 --3.66 --7.2
Dynegy 47.50 --3.42 --6.7
Duke Energy 40.10 --2.30 --5.4
J.P. Morgan Chase 40.39 --2.11 --5.0
Ambac Financial 59.97 --2.98 --4.7
Bank of America 49.59 --2.26 --4.4
Reliant Energy 43.55 --1.80 --4.0
Enron 53.50 --2.20 --4.0 

Source: Bloomberg News


GRAPHIC: Energy Fallout, Los Angeles Times; 

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 



Report on Business Column
TO THE POINT
The convergence revolution can wait, but can investors?
ERIC REGULY

04/07/2001
The Globe and Mail
Metro
B6
"All material Copyright (c) Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. and its 
licensors. All rights reserved."

Convergence, Take 1: In an interview in New York, BCE boss Jean Monty seems 
to express doubt that he is happy with the pace of and the reaction to the 
group's "convergence" strategy, the melding of content and distribution into 
a fabulous array of new profit-spewing services. "We know now that it will 
take years to run its course," he is quoted as saying in a Financial Times 
article. The story says BCE might break itself up in two years if the 
strategy comes up short. 
Convergence, Take 2: At a convergence conference in Toronto the day after the 
newspaper articles appeared, Mr. Monty, while not denying the accuracy of his 
quotations, says BCE is not backtracking on convergence. "We are determined 
to deliver on our convergence strategy," he says. "No one should doubt our 
conviction that we are on the right path."
Confused? Don't be. Mr. Monty's behaviour -- tentative one day, confident the 
next -- is typical of the players in the formerly brave new world of 
convergence. It is possible to be both cynic and visionary at the same time. 
Something will come from convergence but no one knows what -- or when. 
Billions will be lost before billions will be made. Investors beware. 
The convergence strategy is stumbling in some cases at the same time as 
dot-coms vanish in droves and e-commerce strategies are rolled back or 
cancelled. 
Even the bricks-and-clicks strategy, the one convergence model with legs, is 
ailing. A few weeks ago, Blockbuster Video and Enron, an energy company with 
a vast broadband delivery network, killed their partnership. The plan was to 
use Enron's network to deliver movies, music and other services to millions 
of customers. A year after the venture started, there were only 800 
customers. Each side blamed the other. Enron's network wasn't up to the job; 
Blockbuster's on-line movie library was too thin. Take your pick. 
It is far too early to say that convergence is failing, but the early 
go-around has certainly not been encouraging. The Old Economy boosters say 
convergence is dead because it can't make a profit, and businesses exist only 
to make profits. The New Economy boosters, among them Future Shock authors 
Alvin and Heidi Toffler, say give it time. The Industrial Revolution killed 
unimaginable numbers of new business models, destroying livelihoods across 
Europe. Then, after all the upheaval, the greatest wealth generation machine 
in history was created. The same, they believe, will happen as the digital 
revolution takes hold. 
But that's some time in the future. What about now? It's hard to generalize, 
but it's beginning to look like convergence will win or lose on a relatively 
small case-by-case basis. BCE appears to have all the right convergence 
components -- a big telecommunications network (Bell Canada), a Web portal 
(Sympatico-Lycos), a broadcaster (CTV), a newspaper (The Globe and Mail) and 
popular financial Web sites, including globeinvestor.com. 
On the editorial side, convergence so far means getting Globe reporters to 
stand in front of television cameras, which might be a logical first step but 
who knows where it may lead. 
While BCE has been at it for a few months, it's going to have to show some 
results fast. 
Royal Bank and AOL Canada,which is 20 per cent owned by the bank, seem to 
have had early success in their convergence experiment, which began in 1999. 
Then, Royal had 350,000 on-line customers; today the number is 1.5 million 
and rising. The Royal and AOL Canada sites promote each other. AOL users can 
flip over to Royal's on-line banking and brokerage services. More on-line 
customers translate into savings because it means fewer employees are needed 
in the bank's call centres. 
The longer-range plan is to make AOL and Royal full-fledged e-commerce 
partners. AOL will deliver the customers, Royal the end-to-end payments 
systems for anything the customers want. If it works, Royal, the 
bricks-and-mortar bank, will have converged with an on-line network. Since 
AOL now includes the Time Warner publishing empire, Royal, through AOL 
Canada, will be on the receiving end of a steady supply of new services and 
content developed south of the border. 
Mr. Monty is right. It is far too early to judge whether convergence, or at 
least BCE's notion of convergence, is working. There may be no material 
results for a couple of years, if ever. But revolutions take time. BCE has 
all the right parts. What it needs, and may not get, is patient managers and 
investors.

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 


HOUSTON
Hits of the Week
Hits of the Week
Staff

04/07/2001
Houston Chronicle
2 STAR
2
(Copyright 2001)

Earthy pleasures 
More than 35,000 Houstonians are expected to show their appreciation for 
their planet and good music today when 104 KRBE radio and Enron present the 
fifth annual Earth Day Festival at Eleanor Tinsley Park on Buffalo Bayou near 
downtown.
Benefiting the Houston Parks and Recreation Department and the Citizens' 
Environmental Coalition, the festival is billed as the Southwest's largest 
Earth Day event. 
This year's musical lineup features Vertical Horizon and Collective Soul; 
contemporary R&B artists Wyclef Jean and Mya; the Canadian pop group 
soulDecision; and the Europop sensation ATC. 
More than 40 environmental organizations will set up shop in the festival's 
activity zones, where visitors will find environmentally friendly interactive 
booths; a 40-foot inflatable slide; moonwalks; carnival games; a rock wall; a 
flight simulator; face-painting; and an inflatable obstacle course. 
10 a.m.-7 p.m. today at Eleanor Tinsley Park between Allen Parkway and 
Memorial Drive. Free parking will be available in the Enron parking garage, 
1400 Smith, with a free Metro shuttle service to and from the festival site. 
Tickets are $20 (cash only), with a $5 discount for 104 Card holders. 
Children ages 10 and younger will be admitted free with a paying adult (one 
child per adult). Call 713- 266-1000. 

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

LOCAL
ENRON ASKS POMPANO TO PUT OFF PLANT VOTE FOES CALL REQUEST A TACTIC TO STOP 
RALLY BY PROTESTERS
DAVID FLESHLER Staff Writer

04/07/2001
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Broward Metro
1B
(Copyright 2001 by the Sun-Sentinel)

Facing massive opposition to its power plant proposal, Enron Corp. has 
requested a one-month delay on next week's vote by the Pompano Beach City 
Commission. 
The commission is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to rezone 28 acres 
east of Florida's Turnpike for the 510-megawatt plant. But Enron's attorney 
sent a letter to the city on Friday asking for a postponement until May 8, 
stating the company wanted first to obtain its air quality permit from the 
state Department of Environmental Protection.
Opponents are furious. They see the request as a stalling tactic by a company 
that fears it's headed for a loss next week. And they said Enron is trying to 
wreck their plans to hold a protest rally and to pack the commission chamber 
with opponents. 
"We have buses ordered. We have hundreds of people that are going to be 
there," said Larry Lemelbaum, president of the Township Community Master 
Association in Coconut Creek, which would be downwind from the plant's 
80-foot stacks. "I think this is totally, totally unconscionable. This was 
going to be a big rally. Now we'll have to get in touch with everybody and 
try to cancel it. I just hope the commission doesn't go along with it. " 
Many residents of his neighborhood will travel north for the summer, and 
wouldn't be able to attend the commission meeting in May, he said. 
"After Passover, everybody goes up north," he said. "Half the people will go 
home by then. That's why they're postponing it." 
Nonsense, said Eric Thode, the company's spokesman. The company isn't trying 
to thwart the opposition. And it remains "cautiously optimistic" about 
winning approval from the five-member commission. The request for the delay 
is simply to allow the company time to obtain the air quality permit, which 
it always prefers to have in hand before going before a city or county 
commission, he said. 
"We were ready, willing and able to go before the commission on Tuesday 
night," he said. "Our request for the continuance is because the surrounding 
cities have delayed the issuance of the air permit." 
The state has already announced a preliminary decision to issue the permit, 
having determined that the plant would not harm the region's air quality. 
State officials took public comments on its plans two weeks ago, at a meeting 
that drew more than 500 people. The final decision has been delayed because 
several cities west of the site, which oppose the project, have requested 
time to prepare petitions requesting an administrative hearing. 
If an administrative hearing is granted, however, it would be much more than 
a month before the company receives a permit, said Al Linero, the DEP 
administrator reviewing the permit application. It could take six months or 
more, he said. 
The City Commission vote may be close. Two commissioners are likely to vote 
against it, and the other three are keeping quiet about their views. 
The decision on whether to postpone the vote is up to the City Commission. 
The commission had originally scheduled an emergency meeting Friday afternoon 
to consider Enron's request. But the meeting was postponed until Monday at 9 
a.m. to make sure there would be sufficient notice to all sides. 
Opposition to the plant has been mounting since the proposal became public 
last November. Hundreds of people have attended hearings to protest the 
plans. Margate, Coconut Creek and other cities have adopted resolutions in 
opposition. 
The power plant is one of three proposed for northern Broward County. The 
other two, one of which is also an Enron project, would go along the Turnpike 
in Deerfield Beach. The Deerfield projects are further behind in the approval 
process. 
Despite their irritation at the prospect of calling hundreds of people to 
cancel the rally, opponents took the company's latest move as a sign that the 
project was in trouble. 
"I sense that Enron thinks they're going to lose this thing," said George 
Cavros, a Sierra Club activist who has rallied the opposition. "There's no 
reason for this other than the fact they think they're going to lose." 
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@sun-sentinel.com or 954- 356-4535.

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 


BUSINESS
PG&E BANKRUPTCY TO BE COSTLY LONG, SERPENTINE PROCESS AHEAD FOR UTILITY; 
INVESTOR UNLIKELY TO SEE RETURNS ON INVESTMENTS ANYTIME SOON
MARY FRICKER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

04/07/2001
The Press Democrat Santa Rosa, CA
CITY
E1
(Copyright 2001)

The Pacific Gas & Electric Co. bankruptcy will have a profound and lasting 
impact on the utility and its shareholders, costing millions of dollars and 
likely taking years to resolve, experts said Friday. 
"Every company that files bankruptcy tries to spin it in a positive way ... 
but it's very expensive and very complicated. It's the last resort," said 
Santa Rosa bankruptcy attorney Douglas Provencher.
While the daily business of PG&E will continue, the company has given up 
control of its future in many ways, in exchange for protection from creditors 
while it reorganizes. 
Its executives will have to spend much of their time managing a bankruptcy 
case instead of a utility. The company will have to divulge private 
information to creditors. It will have to ask the court's permission for a 
variety of activities outside the normal course of business, like selling 
assets. It will have to pay for its own bankruptcy lawyers, creditors' 
committee lawyers, accountants and more. 
"I can't even imagine the cost. It'll be millions of dollars," Provencher 
said. 
At the same time, the shareholders of its parent company, PG&E Corp., now 
have little hope of seeing a return on their investment anytime soon -- even 
though Glynn said Friday that PG&E expects shareholders to view the 
bankruptcy filing more positively, as an action that stops the financial 
slide. 
"The bottom line for the shareholders is that the stock isn't going to get 
anywhere near its previous highs for a long time, in our view," said Brian 
Youngberg, senior utility analyst with Edward Jones brokerage in St. Louis, 
Mo. 
The stock's most recent high was $31.81 in September. It closed Friday at 
$7.20, down $4.18 on the New York Stock Exchange, after trading was halted 
for several hours because of the bankruptcy filing. 
Still, moving into the bankrupcty court arena has benefits, and PG&E 
executives decided those benefits outweighed the uncertainty and the 
ballooning deficits they otherwise faced. 
"The issue for PG&E Company is to get costs and revenues brought into line," 
chairman Robert D. Glynn Jr. said Friday. "The political process has been 
able to negotiate but not close the deal. We think the federal bankruptcy 
court will be a better venue to be able to close the deal." 
Daniel Bussel, a bankruptcy specialist at UCLA Law School and author of a 
widely used textbook on bankruptcy law, said the bankruptcy court provides a 
structure and a set of rules that can help the warring parties reach 
agreement. 
"I don't think it's the end of the world that they're in bankruptcy. It just 
means the negotiations will take place under the bankruptcy court," Bussel 
said. "It may well be the first step to the solution." 
"There's a structure and a focus, and everyone knows what the rules are," 
Bussel said. 
The core decisions that must be made are to find ways for PG&E to pay the $9 
billion shortfall it says it has accumulated since June - when wholesale 
electricity costs soared and PG&E began having to pay more for electricity 
than it is permitted to charge its customers -- while still supplying energy 
to its customers in Northern and Central California. 
PG&E has been negotiating with state officials for months trying to find a 
solution to the crisis, but chairman Glynn said Friday it has given up hope 
of success. 
"The bankruptcy code provides a mechanism that can get people, hopefully, to 
coalesce around a plan," Bussel said. "It also has mechanisms to try to keep 
different constituencies in line, to the extent that their demands are 
undermining the ability of the company to successfully reorganize." 
The different constituencies in this case include the utility, its creditors, 
state regulators, state legislators, federal regulators, ratepayers and 
taxpayers. 
All will be represented in negotiations, under the oversight of U.S. 
Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali. 
"There is going to be a huge jurisdictional battle between PG&E, the feds, 
the state, and the PUC," Bussel said. "(The judge) will certainly be making 
his reputation on this case. We'll see how he handles it." 
Asked if he thought the bankruptcy judge would order PG&E to raise its rates 
more than permitted by the PUC, PG&E chairman Glynn said Friday "the 
bankruptcy court and the PUC will probably have some very interesting 
conversations on that subject." 
The filing eliminates any doubts among creditors that PG&E is in dire 
financial straits, and it could give them an incentive to negotiate 
settlements. 
The largest creditors listed in the PG&E filing Friday are Bank of New York, 
owed $2.2 billion, the California Power Exchange, owed $2 billion, Bankers 
Trust Co., $1.3 billion, and the state Independent System Operator, $1.1 
billion. 
The leading power producer represented on the list of PG&E's top 20 creditors 
is Calpine Corp., a San Jose power generator and owner of most of The 
Geysers. 
Calpine officials said Friday they are confident PG&E will pay all of its 
bills, as it vowed to do Friday. 
Calpine particularly believes it will get the $267 million it is owed because 
the debt represents long-term contracts from The Geysers and other 
alternative energy sources that are cheaper than the wholesale market today, 
spokesman Bill Highlander said. 
Other power producers at the top of the list are El Paso Merchant Energy Gas, 
$40 million, BP Energy Co, $30 million, Enron Canada Corp., $28 million, 
Chevron USA Production, $25 million. 
A peculiarity in bankruptcy law will make it easier for PG&E to buy energy 
and find financing now that it's in bankruptcy. That's because the judge must 
approve and will require repayment. 
"Now that they've entered bankruptcy, the legal process says that going 
forward they have to pay any current bills they have to incur. So we will 
continue performing on our contracts and actually being paid going forth," 
Highlander said. 
This is not the first time a utility has filed bankruptcy. Two well-known 
cases involved Public Service Co. of New Hampshire, in 1988, and El Paso 
Electric in 1992. 
The two cases may give clues as to what lies ahead for PG&E. 
The New Hampshire case took two years to resolve, the El Paso case took four 
years. 
Jurisdictional issues among state and federal regulators and legislators were 
resolved by compromise. 
The New Hampshire case was resolved when the company was acquired out of 
bankruptcy by another utility company. In the El Paso case, the company 
reorganized and now operates outside bankruptcy-court protection. 
El Paso didn't pay a dividend or see price appreciation in its stock from 
1989 to 1996. Information on New Hampshire stockholders was not available 
Friday. 
PG&E suspended its common stock dividend this year. 
"Bankruptcy has a lot of uncertainty ... and common shareholders are last in 
line to get the cash. We think long term it's an inappropriate investment for 
individuals," analyst Youngberg said. 
The Associated Press contributed to this story. 
You can reach staff writer Mary Fricker at 521-5241 or e-mail at 
mfricker@pressdemocrat.com


CHART: b&w by The Press Democrat: PG&E stock price 

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

BUSINESS
PG&E Creditors Are Lining Up / BofA, local generators owed billions by utility
Christian Berthelsen, Sam Zuckerman
Chronicle Staff Writers

04/07/2001
The San Francisco Chronicle
FINAL
D.1
(Copyright 2001)

A look at PG&E's creditors shows just how widely the ailing utility's 
tentacles reached into the U.S. economy. 
Virtually every sector of the institutional and investor public is exposed to 
its troubles. Pension funds, insurance companies, banks, energy concerns and 
government agencies are all said to be among those who extended their 
products and services to the utility, hoping for a return on their investment.
That return was put in question yesterday when PG&E Corp.'s regulated utility 
subsidiary filed for bankruptcy protection. 
In its filing, PG&E said it had secured debt -- the kind that entitles 
creditors to the assets of the company if things go wrong -- of slightly more 
than $3 billion dollars. But it listed unsecured debt, which is not backed by 
assets, of nearly $6 billion. That unsecured money is the kind that is much 
harder to fully recover. 
Chief among the creditors were holders of more than $2.2 billion in 
medium-term, senior and floating-rate notes. Though the official creditor on 
that debt was said to be the Bank of New York, bank officials said yesterday 
that they are merely a fiduciary trustee and not the actual lenders. 
A source, who would only speak on condition of anonymity and would not 
identify specific note holders, said they were spread among an assortment of 
pension funds, insurance companies, hedge funds and banks. The same was the 
case for Bankers Trust Co., listed as an unsecured creditor to the tune of 
$1.3 billion, and U.S. Bank, with a debt listing of $310 million. 
"A large number of institutional investors chose to invest on optimism rather 
than arithmetic," said Jon Kyle Cartwright, a senior energy analyst with 
Raymond James Financial in St. Petersburg, Fla. "I have no idea what (PG&E's) 
assets are worth. What is the value of assets of a company that is legally 
mandated to lose money on every kilowatt hour it sells?" 
Investors are already punishing the stocks of companies who were exposed to 
PG&E's liability, and rising prices are sure to compound the problem. 
MBIA, a loan insurer backing more than $500 million in PG&E bonds, was 
punished by investors yesterday, who sent shares down $7.69, or more than 9 
percent, to close at $75.10. 
Many of the lenders remained stoic yesterday in the face of PG&E's 
disclosure. But it may take some time before the fallout becomes tangible. 
"We regret that the collective actions to mitigate Pacific Gas & Electric's 
financial crisis were unsuccessful," Duke Energy, a power generator, said in 
a prepared statement. "However, the Chapter 11 filing provides a defined 
process to collect our past receivables and keep PG&E in business going 
forward." 
Bank of America helped underwrite a syndicated loan of $938 million to PG&E. 
The bank declined to say what portion of the loan it held or what percentage 
of its corporate lending portfolio it comprised. The bank issued a statement 
saying it was disappointed to learn of the filing but would be able to 
withstand some loss because it has $50 billion in reserves. BofA shares 
dropped $2.26 yesterday, or more than 4 percent, to end at $49.59. 
Other lenders knew better than to get involved with PG&E in the first place. 
John Moorlach, the treasurer of Orange County, said he avoided Pacific Gas & 
Electric Co., instead holding $20 million in debt securities issued by Edison 
International, the parent company of Southern California Edison. 
"I was worried about PG&E," Moorlach said. 
Another major sector of PG&E creditors are the power companies that have 
profited enormously in the state's energy crisis. The utility's debts to the 
California Power Exchange (PX) and the California Independent System 
Operator, which in this context are essentially billing agents for the 
merchant power concerns, total more than $3 billion. 
E. Jesus Arredondo, a spokesman for the PX, which itself declared bankruptcy 
last month, said Duke Energy Inc. and Reliant Energy Inc. were among the 
largest exposed creditors whose debt was attributed to the PX, with as much 
as $300 million and $400 million in unreimbursed power purchases. A Duke 
spokesman would say only that the Charlotte, N.C., firm reported more than 
$400 million in accounts receivable in January but would not elaborate on how 
much of that is owed by PG&E. 
Separately, PG&E listed debts of about $121 million to three subsidiaries of 
Calpine Corp. of San Jose, $28 million to a subsidiary of Enron and about $90 
million to Chevron, El Paso and BP Energy Services for gas and power 
purchases. 
Even municipal utilities, which had long taken a sort of churlish pride in 
the fact that they were immune from rate shocks because of publicly produced 
power, will take the hit. 
Los Angeles, which was said to have spent $130 million of its own money 
generating electricity to sell to PG&E and Southern California Edison, may be 
out more than $100 million for power it provided. The city's Department of 
Water and Power may have to raise its own rates to cover that outlay. 

PG&E's Top 20 CreditorsCompany Amt. owed(x)Bank of New York $2,210California 
Power Exchange 1,970Bankers Trust Co. 1,300Calif. Independent System Operator 
1,130Bank of America 938.46U.S. Bank, Corporate Trust Services 310.00Calpine 
Gilroy Cogeneration LP 57.93Calpine Greenleaf Inc. 49.45Crocket Cogeneration 
48.40Calpine King City Cogeneration LLC 45.71El Paso Merchant Energy Gas LP 
40.15GMF Power Systems LP 40.12Geysers Power Co. LLC 32.87BP Energy Co. 
29.52Enron Canada Corp. 28.21Chevron U.S.A. Production Co. 24.72Sempra Energy 
Trading Corp. 23.85Calpine Pittsburg Power Plant 21.58Wheelabrator Shasta 
Energy Co. Inc. 21.51Sierra Pacific Industries 19.89 (x)In millions of 
dollars Source: U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of California


GRAPHIC, CHART: SEE END OF TEXT 

Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 


Enron to Cut 20% of Workforce at Broadband Unit, Reuters Says
2001-04-07 17:10 (New York)


     Houston, April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Enron Corp. will cut 250
jobs, or 20 percent of the workforce at its broadband
telecommunications unit, Reuters reported yesterday, citing
spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly.
     Kimberly said Enron is cutting jobs because it completed its
18,000-mile fiber-optic network and demand has been less than
expected for its streaming media products delivered to personal
computers, Reuters said.
     Affected employees will be eligible for other positions at
Enron Broadband Services or other units, though some people may be
fired, she told Reuters. Houston-based Enron is the biggest energy
trader.



Maharashtra Won't Make Payment to Enron Venture, Paper Says
2001-04-07 01:30 (New York)


     Mumbai, April 7 (Bloomberg) -- India's Maharashtra state
government decided not to pay a 1.1 billion rupee ($23.83 million)
bill from an Enron Corp. venture for January electricity charges,
the Business Standard reported, citing an unnamed government
official.
     The government will tomorrow write to the venture, Dabhol
Power Co., that it does not intend to honor its guarantee for the
Maharashtra State Electricity Board, the report said, quoting the
official.
     The state utility became unable to pay for power it ordered
after Dabhol Power raised its rates to reflect soaring oil prices.
Prices of naphtha, the fuel made from crude oil that fires
Dabhol's plant, have more than doubled in two years.
     Dabhol Power is in arbitration over the federal government's
refusal to pay a guarantee of 1.02 billion rupees toward
electricity charges for December.