CSU, UC to Plug Into Enron
California’s public universities said Wednesday that they will buy electricity from an out-of-state power marketer, Enron Corp., when California’s electricity market opens to competition March 31.
Houston-based Enron is the biggest power marketer to tackle California’s newly restructured $20-billion electricity industry, which has attracted dozens of companies eager to crack territories that were long the domain of the state’s big investor-owned utilities--Southern California Edison Co., San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
Business and residential customers will be able to choose to buy their electricity from any qualified company. (Public power companies, such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, are not yet being forced to open their territories.)
Touting it as the largest such contract in the nation, Enron said the four-year agreement between its Enron Energy Services subsidiary and a collaboration of the University of California and the California State University systems is worth an estimated $300 million in electricity sales during the life of the contract.
The contract is expected to save the CSU system $1.5 million per year and the UC system $2.4 million per year--a total of $15.6 million during the four years. Because some campuses get electricity from municipal power companies that are not opening their markets yet, Enron will supply electricity to 18 of the 22 CSU campuses and seven of the nine UC campuses. It will provide energy-management services to all of the campuses.
The CSU and UC systems received several bids, which were cut to two finalists: Enron and Pacific Gas & Electric Energy Services, a unit of San Francisco-based PG&E; Corp.
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Nancy Rivera Brooks can be reached via e-mail at nancy.rivera.brooks@latimes.com or by fax at (213) 237-7837.
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Dollars for Directors
Directors of energy companies are making a bit more these days, with cash compensation averaging $40,760, up 8% from 1995, based on a study of 1997 proxy statements. Here is a list of the best-paying boards among energy firms:
Company: Amerada Hess
Cash compensation for directors: $94,778
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Company: Tesoro Petroleum
Cash compensation for directors: $64,717
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Company: Unocal
Cash compensation for directors: $63,875
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Company: Halliburton
Cash compensation for directors: $62,000
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Company: Union Pacific Resources
Cash compensation for directors: $61,875
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Company: Sonat
Cash compensation for directors: $61,313
Source: Spencer Stuart Executive Search Consultants
