TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DEREGULATION

The evolving deregulation of California's $20 billion power market provides opportunities and pitfalls for energy users, producers and marketers. The lessons of the first year of electric deregulation and the responses of the market are important to anyone interested in staying competitive and informed. The Association of Bay Area Governments, one of the largest power aggregators in California, brings you POWER MATTERS `99, a one-day conference on topics related to the sale and purchase of electricity and gas by businesses and local governments.
 

Morning Program

ON-SITE REGISTRATION  8:15 am

PLENARY SESSION  9:00 am - 11:40 am

Introduction: Dr. Eugene Y. Leong, Executive Director, Association of Bay Area Governments

Moderator: Elena Schmid, Manager, ABAG POWER

• Richard A. Bilas, President, California Public Utilities Commission

The Public Utilities Commission (PUC), created in 1911, has broad powers to regulate safety, standards of service, and rates for natural gas, electricity, water, pipelines and transport companies in California. Hear President Bilas speak on his assessment of the development of competition in California and the areas in which the PUC is looking for further action.

• George Sladoje, Chief Executive Officer, California Power Exchange Corporation

The PX is a competitive marketplace where utilities, power marketers, load aggregators, industrial customers and cogenerators of electricity complete trades through an electronic auction. The PX establishes a market-clearing price of electricity for each hour of the next day. Mr. Sladoje will discuss how the auction methodology has worked and if it represents a true market price of electricity for California.

• William J. Keese, Chairman, California Energy Commission

The California Energy Commission is the state's primary energy policy and planning agency. The Commission monitors and forecasts energy needs, licenses power plants, develops energy technologies, and promotes energy efficiency. Mr. Keese will speak on providing market support to existing, new and emerging renewable technologies.

• Dr. William A. Meroney, Director of Data and Financial Analysis, Office of Economic Policy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates the transmission and wholesale of natural gas and electricity in interstate commerce. Mr. O'Neill will speak on experiments and lessons from 1998, sequential markets for ancillary service in California and trading and prices with and without ISOs.

• Bill Comish, Dispatcher Training Director, Western Systems Coordinating Council

The WSCC is the regional forum for actively promoting regional electric service reliability. The WSCC region includes all or portions of 14 western states and western Canada and Mexico. Its 84 full members include major transmission utilities, transmission dependent utilities, independent power producers and marketers. Mr. Comish will speak on the Y2K preparedness of its members.

LUNCHEON  12:00

Guest Speaker: State Senator Debra Bowen, Chair, Senate Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee

"The Legislature's Perspective on California's Power Market Deregulation"

Senator Bowen represented the 53rd Assembly District for six years before being elected to the Senate in November 1998. Senator Bowen's committee is where policy changes to power utility deregulation are formulated.

The CHANGING GAS MARKET

The gas market is far from static as it continues its re-alignment in a market structure. This panel will explore ways that gas markets can work to the advantage of consumers. They will also give their perspectives of how the Gas Accord is affecting the core subscription program that has been in place for over a year.

Moderator: Marcello Todaro, Regional Manager, IQ Solutions

• Gerard A. Worster, Area Director, TXU Business Services

• Gerald Miller, Principal For Gas, Pacific Gas and Electric

BREAK

• Mark Pocta, Office of Ratepayer Advocates, California Public Utilities Commission

• Marcello Todaro, Regional Manager, IQ Solutions

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE ELECTRIC SERVICES INDUSTRY

The restructured electric industry has been in operation for over a year and has opened the market to new players using new strategies. While there are many opinions of whether deregulation is working as envisioned, this panel will review the activities of the past year, talk about the opportunities and pitfalls and their own responses to the evolving market. They will also discuss what keeps the market from being fully competitive.

Moderator: Becky Killbourne, Director of Market Services, PX

• Byron Woertz, Director of Client Relations, ISO — "Real Time Market"

• Becky Killbourne, PX — "Block Forward"

• Michael Schneider, Director of Business Analysis, San Diego Gas & Electric, — "Post Transition Case"

BREAK

Moderator: Don Dame, Power Management Business Unit Manager, Northern California Power Agency

• Danford W. Baker, President, NewEnergy California — "California: Is There a Better Market?"

• Bruce Hamer, Wholesale Marketing Manager, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power — "Strategies for a Municipal Supplier"

• Gary Ackerman, Executive Director, Western Power Trading Council — "The Role of Scheduling Coordinators in the New Market"

• Sue Mara, Regional Director, ENRON Corp. — "Overcoming First-Year Difficulties"

NEW APPROACHES

The promise of the new market structure was not just lower prices through competition, but also the possibilities for innovation and new technologies, allowing the market to respond to the needs of the consumers. This panel will explore aspects of the energy services market and discuss their experiences in innovation and flexible responses to market conditions.

Moderator: Dorothy Rothrock, Principal, Rothrock Consulting

• Daryl Mills, Supervisor of Public Sector Programs, California Energy Commission — "Public Agency Energy Procurement Options"

• Jody S. London, Senior Policy Analyst, Grueneich Resource Advocates, will be replacing Don Schultz, Senior Analyst, Office of Ratepayer Advocates, California Public Utilities Commission — "Energy Markets within California"

• James P. Waltz, President, Energy Resource Associates, Inc. — "Energy Efficiency for Free? Doing Performance Contracting Right"

BREAK

• Natalie Hanson, Consultant, Bill Julian & Associates — "Establishing Co-ops for Purchasing Power"

• Bill Ross, Chairman of Renewable Energy Marketing Board, Manager Power Marketing, Western Region, Calpine Corp. — "Transforming the Market for Green Power"

• Eric Wong, Consultant, Caterpillar, Inc. — "Distributed Energy_Distributed Challenges"

The ABAG POWER Board of Directors will meet at 1:30 pm