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LCG Publishes 2024 Annual Outlook for Texas Electricity Market (ERCOT)

LCG, October 10, 2023 – LCG Consulting (LCG) has released its annual outlook of the ERCOT wholesale electricity market for 2024, based on the most likely weather, market, transmission, and generator conditions.

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LCG Publishes 2024 Annual Outlook for Texas Electricity Market (ERCOT)

LCG, October 10, 2023 – LCG Consulting (LCG) has released its annual outlook of the ERCOT wholesale electricity market for 2024, based on the most likely weather, market, transmission, and generator conditions.

Read more

Industry News

CalEnergy Sues SoCal Ed Again

LCG, Dec. 13, 2001--CalEnergy Inc., a unit of Mid-American Energy Holdings Co., said yesterday it has gone to court for the third time this year seeking to force Southern California Edison to meet the terms of agreements it signed to purchase electricity from its geothermal power plants in Southern California.

Vince Signorotti, a CalEnergy spokesman, said, "We wish we could avoid the courts, but Edison continues to leave us no other option to enforce our agreements. Two previous lawsuits this year have helped to force Edison to act responsibly, but Edison just can't get it right. As in the first two instances, Edison is ignoring clear contractual agreements it has signed with us."

At issue are "capacity bonus payments," one of three calculations specified in signed contracts under which SoCal Ed pays CalEnergy for electricity.

In March of this year, CalEnergy sued SoCal Ed to get out of a power purchase agreement that limited the geothermal company's opportunities to sell power at higher prices in the California market. Because the utility had not paid for power already delivered, CalEnergy was released from the contract and began selling power on the open market.

In June, after SoCal Ed and a number of power producers, including CalEnergy, reached agreement on payment for past due bills, CalEnergy resumed selling its generation to the utility.

In October, SoCal Ed and the California Public utilities Commission agreed on a plan that would return the utility to creditworthiness, but that plan is still being challenged by consumer advocates who say it is a "bailout" for the company. Because it had not enjoyed a return to creditworthiness, SoCal Ed reneged on payments to CalEnergy and that company went to court again. It dropped that lawsuit last week after Edison signed agreements to pay the past-due amount and begin paying generators according to its June agreement.

Now, SoCal Ed says it intends to withhold the capacity bonus payments for the balance of the year, and CalEnergy is back in court.

"To help Edison avoid bankruptcy and return the company to creditworthiness, CalEnergy has exercised patience beyond any reasonable expectation," Signorotti said. "But Edison continues to renege on paying what it plainly owes under the contracts it has agreed to. It seems that court action is the only way we can get Edison's attention and fair treatment."

SoCal Ed might prefer to have CalEnergy let the regulatory wheels slowly turn rather than repeatedly throwing a monkey wrench into the works.

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