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CSU AND UC SIGN CONTRACT WITH ENRON TO BECOME LARGEST DIRECT ACCESS
ELECTRICAL ENERGY CUSTOMER IN THE COUNTRY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, February 25, 1998
LONG BEACH AND OAKLAND -- The California State University (CSU) and the
University of California (UC) soon will begin taking advantage of
competitive opportunities in the new deregulated electricity market
through an agreement that will save the two institutions over $15
million over the next four years. The agreement with Enron Energy
Services (EES), a subsidiary of Enron Corp., to provide electricity to
all 22 CSU campuses, all nine UC campuses and other affiliate
facilities, is the largest direct access electrical energy contract in
the country.
The four-year agreement among the UC, the CSU and Enron, worth an
estimated value of $300-500 million in electricity sales, takes effect
March 31 and will result in estimated savings of $1.5 million per year
for CSU and $2.4 million per year for UC, for a total of $15.7 million.
Enron will also work with the university systems to realize even greater
savings by reducing the 31 campuses' consumption of electricity through
an extensive package of energy services.
"The CSU, UC and Enron will all benefit from this agreement," said
Richard West, CSU senior vice chancellor for business and finance. "By
working together the UC and CSU have been able to leverage our size to
obtain the maximum pricing advantage. These are the kind of
collaborations we will continue to seek in the future as we address the
challenge of access to quality higher education in a time of expanding
enrollment and limited resources."
"This is an innovative venture that will benefit both the University of
California and the California State University as well as the state's
taxpayers," said V. Wayne Kennedy, UC senior vice president for business
and finance. "It addresses an essential aspect of our campus operations
-- the need to provide electricity in a way that is cost-effective,
efficient and reliable. We look forward to a successful relationship
with Enron."
"We congratulate these two great university systems for coming together
to take a resourceful approach to the newly deregulated electricity
marketplace," said Kenneth L. Lay, chairman and CEO of Enron Corp. "The
millions of savings this agreement provides the CSU and UC will allow
the universities to put that money towards their core concern --
education. We are honored to be the energy provider for two of the most
respected educational institutions in the world."
All eligible UC and CSU campuses will receive commodity savings
benefits. Additional services such as account preparation, commodity
and customer services and billing will also be included. Enron will
begin to install its Interactive Metering Solution -- the only
nation-wide wireless metering system -- at campus facilities in March.
Enron also will provide the university systems with strategic energy
savings plans for each site and will conduct annual workshops dedicated
to energy services.
The collaboration between the UC and CSU began in the fall of 1996 with
the solicitation of bids from firms to provide direct access service for
electricity for all campuses under the new deregulated environment in
California. Enron's selection was based on the analysis of an
evaluation team and concurrence by the chief administration business
officers at the UC and CSU campuses.
Altogether, the CSU and UC enroll well over one-half million students
and employ more than 192,000 faculty and staff at 31 campuses throughout
the state. The CSU is the largest system of senior higher education in
the country. Its 23 campuses and six off campus centers throughout the
state enroll nearly 344,000 students. The UC is the largest public
research university system in the nation. It includes nine campuses and
five academic medical centers, with nearly 170,000 graduate and
undergraduate students and a workforce of more than 136,000 including
7,000 faculty members.
Enron is the world's leading integrated natural gas and electricity
company. The company owns approximately $24 billion of energy related
assets and delivers physical commodities and risk management and
financial services to provide energy solutions to customers around the
world. Enron's internet address is www.enron.com and the stock is
traded under the ticker symbol, "ENE."
For additional information please contact:
Ken Swisher - CSU
kenneth_swisher@calstate.edu
562-985-2748
Rick Malaspina - UC
rick.malaspina@ucop.edu
510-987-9179
Gary Foster - Enron
gfoster@enron.com
713-853-4527
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