[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 15, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2144-2145]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-914]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Docket No. ER96-1663-000]


Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric 
Company and Southern California Edison Company Notice of Technical 
Conference and Potential Broadcast of Technical Conference

Issued January 8, 1997.
    As previously announced in the Commission's order issued on 
December 18, 1996, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, et al., 77 FERC 
para.61,265 (1996), the Commission will convene a technical conference 
in the above captioned proceeding to be held on Friday, January 17, 
1997, at the offices of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426. The technical conference 
will commence at 9:30 a.m. and will be open to all interested persons. 
The Commissioners and Staff will participate in the technical 
conference, which will address options for mitigating the market power 
of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company 
and Southern California Edison Company, who have jointly filed an 
application for authorization to sell power at market-based rates 
through a power exchange.
    The Conference will consist of three panels, as outlined on the 
Attachment to this notice. In addition, all interested persons are 
invited to submit written comments addressing topics discussed at the 
technical conference. (There is no need to reiterate comments that 
already have been made in pleadings filed in these dockets.) Comments 
must be received on or before January 27, 1997. The comments should not 
be longer than 25 pages in length, double-spaced, on 8\1/2\'' x 11'' 
paper, with standard margins. Parties submitting comments must submit 
fourteen (14) written copies of their comments and also must submit two 
copies of the file on a computer diskette, one in Wordperfect 5.1 
format, and one in a DOS file in the ASCII format (with 1'' margins and 
10 characters per inch.). The two computer files should be labeled 
(--.WP and --.ASC) to avoid confusion. Comments must include a one-page 
executive summary and must be filed with the Office of the Secretary, 
Federal Energy

[[Page 2145]]

Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426 
and reference Docket No. ER96-1663-000. All written comments will be 
placed in the Commission's Public files and will be available for 
inspection or copying in the Commission's Public Reference Room during 
normal business hours. The Commission also will make all comments 
available to the public on its electronic bulletin board (EBB).

Broadcast of Technical Conference

    If there is sufficient interest, the Capitol Connection will 
broadcast the technical conference on January 17, 1997, to interested 
persons. Persons interested in receiving the broadcast for a fee should 
contact Julia Morelli at the Capitol Connection (703-993-3100) no later 
than January 14, 1997.
    In addition, National Narrowcast Network's Hearings-On-the Line 
service covers all Commission meetings live by telephone so that anyone 
can listen without special equipment. Call 202-966-2211 for details. 
Billing is based on time on-line.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
David E. Mead, Office of Economic Policy, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-
1024.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.

Attachment--Panels, WEPEX Market Power Conference, January 17, 1997

Panel 1: Structural Mitigation Options

    A number of options have been proposed which alter the market 
structure or create incentives to reduce market power. Issues 
associated with these options include:
     Divestiture: are the current divestiture proposals 
adequate to mitigate market power so that the Commission can approve 
market-based rates?
     Consumer access: how much do retail competition and real-
time pricing mitigate horizontal market power?
     Existing entry barriers (generation and transmission): 
what are they and how can they be remedied? Who has the authority to 
remove any such barriers?
     Call contracts: how do call contracts mitigate market 
power for energy, capacity and ancillary services? What are the details 
that should be included in the contracts? How should the call contract 
prices be determined? Which units should be subject to call contracts?
     Transmission constraints: how do transmission constraints 
affect market power? How do transmission rights mitigate market power?
     Bidding trusts: what is needed to mitigate market power? 
Should bidding trusts be made a permanent mitigation measure?
Panelists
Paul Joskow, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics and 
Management; Head, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology
Representative, Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Jan Smutney-Jones, Executive Director, Independent Energy Producers 
Association
Jim Macias, Vice President and General Manager, Transmission Business 
Pacific Gas & Electric Company
Representative, California Public Utilities Commission
Jeffrey D. Watkiss, Coalition for a Competitive Electric Market

Panel 2: Mitigation--Institutional

    When structural options are unavailable or inappropriate, a number 
of other options are available which remove the incentive or ability of 
entities to exercise market power. These options could be applied to 
all market participants and serve to ensure that market power is 
mitigated or applied to individual entities if the exercise of market 
power is detected.
     Bidding rules: what are appropriate bidding rules? In 
competitive markets, generators would be expected to bid their running 
costs.
     Bidding incentives: what is the effect of the CTC (e.g., 
as a revenue cap for the California IOUs)?
     Ancillary services: how may ancillary services interact 
with other services to encourage market power? How should ancillary 
services be procured to create competition and mitigate market power?
Panelists
William Hieronymous, Putnam Hayes and Bartlett, on behalf of San Diego 
Gas and Electric Company
W. Kent Palmerton, Manager of Industry Restructuring Programs, Northern 
California Power Agency
John Jurewitz, Manager of Regulatory Policy, Southern California Edison 
Company
Barbara Barkovitch, California Large Energy Consumers Association, or 
Keith McRae, Attorney for California Manufacturers Association
Eric Woychik, Utility Consumers Action Network and Toward Utility Rate 
Normalization

Panel 3: Monitoring for Market Power

     Information: what is the effect of widely available 
information on the ability to detect market power? What information 
should be collected and how will market power be identified?
     How do the physical properties of the network change 
market power analysis?
     How should capacity availability and withholding be 
identified and examined?
     Who should be responsible for monitoring? What are the 
appropriate roles for the ISO and the PX? What should the Commission do 
to monitor market power?
Panelists
Larry Ruff, Managing Director, Putnam, Hayes and Bartlett (invited)
Michael Florio, Toward Utility Rate Normalization
Representative, California Energy Commission
Joe D. Pace, Pacific Gas & Electric Company
Representative, Electricity Consumers Resource Counsel

[FR Doc. 97-914 Filed 1-14-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M