california power 1 / 19 / 00 1 . legislation passes - short - term measures , very long - term measures
as we said yesterday , sb - 7 x passed the california state senate easily . the
bill gives the state the immediate authority to purchase power via the
department of water and resources until february 2 nd . the department will
have $ 400 million available to finance power purchases , but there
expectations that these costs could easily rise to $ 1 billion by next week .
ab - 1 x has evolved into a longer - term solution and in its current form , would
authorize the department of water and resources to enter into long - term
contracts ( as opposed to the 15 day contracts in sb - 7 x ) to buy power at a
price cap of 5 . 5 cents per kw / h . this legislation is not expected to pass
today and will likely be changed considerably during the upcoming two week
period covered by sb - 7 x , when negotiations between generators , the utilities ,
and the state are likely to resume .
a second piece of legislation under - - sb 6 x - - has created uncertainty in the
markets . this legislation will create a california public power authority
with bond issuance authority . the uncertainty concerns whether the new
authority will address the problem of the $ 12 billion in outstanding debt
owed by the utilities . the current text of the legislation focuses only on
longer term measures such as expanding generation capacity and improving
efficiency . yet the legislation also says " the authority may issue bonds ,
exercise power of eminent domain , and enter into joint power agreements and
buy , own , and sell land and facilities necessary for the financing of a
project . " the general nature of this language leaves open the possibility of
either issuing bonds to finance past debts , or using eminent domain or the
bond authority to finance the utilities as they enter into a ch . 11 proceeding .
2 . default update
3 . bush
as we reported on wednesday , the bush administration continues to demonstrate
little interest in getting involved
california power 1 / 19 / 00
1 . legislation passes - short - term measures , very long - term measures
as we said yesterday , sb - 7 x passed the california state senate easily . the
bill gives the state the immediate authority to purchase power via the
department of water and resources until february 2 nd . the department will
have $ 400 million available to finance power purchases , but there
expectations that these costs could easily rise to $ 1 billion by next week .
ab - 1 x has evolved into a longer - term solution and in its current form , would
authorize the department of water and resources to enter into long - term
contracts ( as opposed to the 15 day contracts in sb - 7 x ) to buy power at a
price cap of 5 . 5 cents per kw / h . this legislation is not expected to pass
today and will likely be changed considerably during the upcoming two week
period covered by sb - 7 x , when negotiations between generators , the utilities ,
and the state are likely to resume .
a second piece of legislation under - - sb 6 x - - has created uncertainty in the
markets . this legislation will create a california public power authority
with bond issuance authority . the uncertainty concerns whether the new
authority will address the problem of the $ 12 billion in outstanding debt
owed by the utilities . the current text of the legislation focuses only on
longer term measures such as expanding generation capacity and improving
efficiency . yet the legislation also says " the authority may issue bonds ,
exercise power of eminent domain , and enter into joint power agreements and
buy , own , and sell land and facilities necessary for the financing of a
project . " the general nature of this language leaves open the possibility of
either issuing bonds to finance past debts , or using eminent domain or the
bond authority to finance the utilities as they enter into a ch . 11 proceeding .
2 . default update
3 . bush
as we reported on wednesday , the bush administration continues to demonstrate
little interest in getting involved