State Electric Wholesale Plan Supported

An unprecedented gathering of utility executives, government regulators and others interested in California’s historic attempt to deregulate electricity voiced surprisingly broad support Thursday for a plan to sell electric power through a wholesale market.

Virtually all said they expected benefits from the wholesale pool plan--a rare consensus in an often chaotic debate. The wholesale pool plan has been endorsed by most of the California Public Utility commissioners, but many utilities have said in the past that they wanted to sell the power directly to the consumer.

Even Pacific Gas & Electric Co., a strong supporter of this kind of retail sales of electricity, struck a conciliatory pose as pressure mounts on the PUC to adopt a final plan in the next few months.

“What I want to make clear is that if the commission’s ultimate decision [is a wholesale pool],” said PG&E; Chairman and Chief Executive Stanley T. Skinner, “we will work very diligently to make that happen . . . our main interest at this point is to keep the momentum going.”

The widely watched meeting--organized by Southern California Edison Co. and held in Marina del Rey--had evolved from what was originally intended to be a private, nuts-and-bolts discussion among utility executive to a broad, informal airing of the hot-button issues remaining in the deregulation debate.

“We had no idea that the gathering would expand to this extent and scope,” said John E. Bryson, Edison’s chairman and chief executive.

More than two dozen utility chief executives, many voicing their opinions in public for the first time during the debate, attended the workshop at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. The gathering included both federal and state regulators, utility executives from rural California to Canada and consumer advocates.

“This is extraordinary,” PUC President Daniel W. Fessler said in an interview outside the meeting room. “We have heard a lot from lawyers and the experts, but not at this level--the people who have the power to make it work.”

The PUC plans two formal hearings in August and possibly another in September, before settling on a final policy. “The hearings coming up . . . are really on the record,” Skinner said in interview. “This one was to facilitate dialogue.”

Many of the participants Thursday, including members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, are not subject to jurisdiction by California regulators--even though they all have a serious stake in the way deregulation is done.

Either California plan (wholesale or retail) would likely be “completely compatible” with federal regulators, said Elizabeth Moler, commission chair. But Moler also pointedly noted that the limited existing wholesale pools, which operate under federal jurisdiction, have been successful. “They have undeniably saved consumers money,” she said.

A notable holdout Thursday was PUC Commissioner Jessie J. Knight Jr., the sole commission supporter of a retail sales plan. Knight declined the utility’s invitation in a letter to utility executives, saying: “I believe your forum is somewhat premature for Commissioner involvement.”

Knight objected to a preliminary workshop agenda that stressed questions of implementation before the commission has decided on a final plan, as well as a format weighted more toward comment from utility executives and regulators than from consumers.