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ENRON CORP. APPLAUDS FERC ELECTRICITY ORDER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996
HOUSTON -- Enron Corp. today applauded an order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), granting open access to transmission lines owned by public electric utilities.
"The FERC has created a level playing field, enabling companies like Enron to compete even more effectively in the electricity market," said Richard D. Kinder, Enron Corp. president and chief operating officer. "We commend the FERC for issuing this order in a very timely fashion and for holding the line on critical components such as ensuring equal access to the transmission system, providing access to information to use the system and establishing standards of conduct ensuring that utilities do not discriminate in favor of their own electricity sales. The FERC has further ensured that the wholesale market will quickly become even more competitive by requiring utilities to file open access tariffs within 60 days."
Enron is especially encouraged by the Commission's commitment to restructure coordination and pooling arrangements between utilities, Kinder added. These agreements represent a large portion of the market that has been off limits to non-utility customers and now subjects these contracts as well as power pools to the open access requirements of the rule.
"The FERC is committed to an open market at the wholesale level and is working successfully to make this happen," Kinder said. "It has estimated annual cost savings of $3.8 to $5.4 billion by implementing open access at the wholesale level. "As more customers see the benefit at the wholesale level, it will be hard to stop it there. With this order, the FERC has set up a template for states to apply the same structure and tariffs at the retail level. This will result in even greater savings to American consumers."
Enron Corp., one of the world's leading integrated natural gas companies with approximately $13 billion in assets, operates one of the largest natural gas transmission systems in the world; is the largest purchaser and marketer of natural gas and the largest non-regulated marketer of electricity in North America; produces and markets natural gas liquids worldwide; owns approximately 60 percent of Enron Oil & Gas Company, one of the largest independent (non-integrated) exploration and production companies in the United States; owns 52 percent of Enron Global Power & Pipelines L.L.C., which is owner and manager of operating power plants and a natural gas pipeline in emerging markets; and is one of the largest independent developers and producers of electricity in the world. Enron Corp. is traded under the ticker symbol, "ENE."
For additional information please contact:
Diane Bazelides
(713) 853-6285
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