Related Articles
CA ENERGY CRISIS UPDATE May 22, 2001 PG&E PETITIONS COURT FOR PERMISSION TO ASSUME COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS PG&E on May 18 petitioned the bankruptcy court for permission to assume its collective bargaining agreements, in essence asking the court to allow the company to make all necessary payments relating to its union contracts, including arbitration settlements, retention agreements, etc. Details will be published on this site soon. PROBE FOCUSES ON MIRANT, DYNEGY POWER PLANTS California officials are focusing an investigation into the states wholesale electricity markets on two power plants operated by two of the states largest merchant power companies: the Encina plant equally owned by Dynegy and NRG, and the Pittsburg plant owned by Mirant. Investigators believe the Encina and Pittsburg plants have reduced power during supply shortages, causing market prices to rise. A spokesman for Mirant said There was a very forthright attempt to keep these plants up and running. Unequivocally, we have never held anything back. Several employees at the power plants involved have testified that generating units were ramped down even when the states Independent System Operator had warned of tight supplies, according to one commissioner. A senior NRG employee at the Encina power plant told Dow Jones Newswires that he was told by Dynegys Houston trading floor to ramp down the large 951-megawatt plant on at least 10 occasions when he knew power supplies were tight. ISO PLANS TO GIVE ADVANCE NOTICE OF BLACKOUTS The California Independent System Operator will begin giving 30-minute warnings before instituting power blackouts, the Associated Press reported on May 21. The new plan to give warnings takes effect May 30. The alerts will be given to the media and to businesses and customers through a variety of means, including Web sites, faxes and pagers. CONTROLLER PREDICTS ADDITIONAL REVENUE WILL BE NEEDED FOR POWER California State Controller Kathleen Connell said May 21 that she anticipates the state will need to issue $4 billion in revenue anticipation notes in February because a $13.4 billion revenue bond issued in mid-August will not be enough to cover power purchases. The state is likely to spend more on spot market purchases than the administration has anticipated because the price of summer power will be higher than expected and because the state has secured fewer long-term power contracts than expected, Connell said.
|
|
