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Enron Debacle
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Sale of Two Enron Units Is Near; Deals May Bring $3.4 Billion
By Eric Berger, Houston Chronicle, Feb. 14 - Two Enron Corp. units that could bring in almost $3.4 billion moved closer to sale in bankruptcy court here Wednesday, as more details emerged of the company's recent financial operations.
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Enron fires top accounting officers Causey and Buy
HOUSTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Shattered energy company Enron Corp. on Thursday fired its top accounting officers, Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey and Chief Risk Officer Richard Buy, in a disciplinary action.
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Enron Documents Map Details of Creative Accounting; Executive's Stake Shielded
By Tom Fowler, Houston Chronicle, Feb. 14 - Internal Enron documents released Wednesday shine more light on the elaborate accounting maneuvers it employed to avoid reporting details of its off-the-books partnerships.
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Enron Prompts Federal Investigation
Feb 14 - Associated Press - Federal regulators are investigating wholesale power and natural gas markets, with a focus on whether manipulation by Enron Corp. or other energy traders caused big price increases in the West a year ago.
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Head of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Ordered to Reveal Enron Contacts
By Julie Mason, Houston Chronicle, Feb. 14 - As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission opened an investigation of Enron Corp., House lawmakers Wednesday ordered commission Chairman Pat Wood III to disclose his past contacts with company executives.
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Meeting Minutes Contradict Enron Directors' Testimony of Being Kept in Dark
By David Ivanovich, Houston Chronicle, Feb. 14 - Minutes of Enron Corp.'s board meetings released Wednesday indicate directors were briefed repeatedly about the company's deals with its off-the-books partnerships.
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Records Show Whistleblower Told Enron's Lawyers Andersen Knew about Deals
By Chris Mondics, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 14 - Whistleblower Sherron Watkins told Enron Corp. lawyers last September that the company's outside auditor knew many of the details of suspect transactions and "is as guilty as Enron," according to internal documents obtained Wednesday by Knight Ridder.
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Chief Financial Officers in Spotlight Since Enron Scandal
By Eric Torbenson, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minn., Feb. 14 - Now in the white-hot investor spotlight, sitting rather uncomfortably, are chief financial officers.
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Enron-style schemes marketed to other firms-NYT
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - After helping to hatch an idea that allowed Enron Corp. to mask its true financial condition, investment bankers at Wall Street firms marketed the scheme to other companies, the New York Times said in a report on Thursday.
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Looking for love after Enron at power luncheon
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - They showed up at a packed hotel ballroom in midtown Manhattan on Thursday looking for love.
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Ex-Enron workers seek $100 mln from bankrupt trader
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A group of former Enron Corp. employees, backed by the AFL-CIO labor union and activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, appealed on Thursday to a U.S. bankruptcy court to approve payments of $100 million to severed workers.
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Accounting chief seeks rules for Enron-type deals
By Deepa Babington, WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The head of a global accounting standards body on Thursday outlined to Congress a tougher approach on accounting for Enron-type deals but said U.S. support was needed to build global accounting rules.
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Enron Way Mimicked; Analysts Worried Firms Have Learned Wrong Lessons
Feb 14 - Denver Rocky Mountain News - What has Wall Street worried these days is whether companies have learned lessons from Enron - the wrong lessons, taught long ago when the Houston energy trader was on top of the world.
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State largely unscathed by Enron mess; Good timing, luck prevent any significant losses
Feb 14 - The Charleston Gazette - As one of the nation's major energy producers, it was inevitable that West Virginia and its coal, oil and natural gas businesses would become involved with Enron, the failed energy trading conglomerate.
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Anger as Enron UK directors share pounds 6m bonanza
Feb 13 - Independent - London - ENRON'S UK arm was caught up in a fresh furore yesterday after it emerged that 15 senior employees at the company's energy trading arm shared in a pounds 6m bonanza for helping with the sale of the business to Centrica.
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Regulators, Lawmakers Crack Down on Financial Reporting in Enron Aftermath
Chicago Tribune, Feb. 14 - As investors continue to fret over the quality of financial reports provided by the nation's publicly traded companies, regulators and lawmakers moved Wednesday to close accounting loopholes and push for more rigorous corporate reporting requirements in the aftermath of the Enron Corp. bankruptcy.
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Enron's Lay sells Aspen cottage for $10 million
ASPEN, Colo., Feb. 13, (Reuters) - Embattled former Enron Corp chairman Kenneth Lay, who lost a fortune with the collapse of the energy giant, has sold his "cozy country cottage" in this ski resort for $10 million -- more than five times what he paid for it.
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Index fund pioneer Bogle urges vigilance post-Enron
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Abuses that led to the downfall of energy giant Enron Corp. are widespread and must be addressed through pressure from mutual funds and other big institutional investors that own just over half of all of the stock in the United States, John Bogle, founder and former chief executive of The Vanguard Group, said on Thursday.
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National Energy Policy
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Senate Panel OK's Energy Incentives
Feb 13 - Associated Press - Legislation providing more than $14 billion in tax incentives for energy conservation and production was approved Wednesday by a Senate committee, which added new breaks for energy-efficient household renovations and home appliances.
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Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures
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Iberdrola Considers Bidding with Rwe for Assets in Italy
Feb 14, 2002 - FT World Media Abstracts via Comtex - Iberdrola, the second-largest Spanish power group, could join forces with German group RWE to acquire Eurogen, a subsidiary of Italian power group Enel.
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Merger talks between Austrian power generator and German E.On
Feb 13 - Associated Press - Austria's largest power generator and Germany's largest utility group have delayed talks for a planned merger, a government minister said Wednesday.
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California Crisis
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California Lawmakers Intensify Probes of Energy Price Gouging
By John Howard and Hanh Kim Quach, The Orange County Register, Calif., Feb. 14 - Nearly two years after California's electricity crisis began, state investigations into possible price gouging, conflicts of interest and market misconduct have yielded little -- a frustration to consumer groups but little surprise to some energy-industry advocates.
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Rates
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Eugene, Ore., Electric Board Anguishes over Rate Hike
By Scott Maben, The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore., Feb. 13 - The Eugene Water & Electric Board's budget staff proposes raising electric rates another 6 percent this spring, trimming millions of dollars from the budget and taking other cost-cutting measures to help the financially beleaguered utility rebound from last year's drought and treacherous wholesale power market.
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Nevada Utility Asks Advocate, Others to Leave News Conference
By John G. Edwards, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Feb. 13 - When Nevada Power Co. called a news conference Tuesday to discuss its $922 million energy rate case, the company meant a "media-only" conference.
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Clinton Utilities raising rates for all services
Feb 13 - News Sentinel - For the first time in years, Clinton Utilities Board is raising rates for electricity, water and sewer service.
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LIPA Plan Minimizes Impact of 2001 Increased Fuel Costs
Uniondale, NY - February 14, 2001 (News Release) - The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) today announced a plan that minimizes the impact on its customers of approximately $200 million in excess oil, gas and purchased power costs incurred during LIPA's 2001 fiscal year, and keeps electric bills steady for 2002.
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General
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Electric Utility in Pennsylvania to Do Away with Meter Reading
By Tim Mekeel, Lancaster New Era, Pa., Feb. 12 - Doris Miller of Stevens has a pet peeve.
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Public Left Out of Talks with Public Service Co. of New Mexico
By Rosalie Rayburn, Albuquerque Journal, N.M., Feb. 12 - Public Service Company of New Mexico has been meeting privately with city and state officials, regulators and private groups to try to reach agreement on issues including electric rates and deregulation.
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Oklahoma City Man Helps Maintain Power Supply at Olympic Games
By Adam Wilmoth, The Daily Oklahoman, Feb. 13 - When athletes at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City race downhill or across the ice, Oklahoma City's Dan Osborne helps ensure that millions of people worldwide can see who wins the gold.
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Trading/Marketing
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US lawmakers seek to regulate Enron-like energy trades
WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday to regulate energy contracts in the over-the-counter market like those used by bankrupt Enron Corp. and are accused of causing skyrocketing electricity and natural gas prices last year.
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Secrecy in Energy-Trading Market Questioned in Congressional Hearing
By Jim Landers, The Dallas Morning News, Feb. 14 - Wholesale power and natural gas marketers were criticized before Congress on Wednesday for secret trading that leaves consumers and producers open to price manipulation.
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FEATURE-U.S. energy trade grows more cautious post-Enron
By Spencer Swartz, SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The collapse of energy giant Enron Corp. has triggered a tough new conservatism among wholesale energy traders, who are grilling everyone they do business with about their credit.
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Transmission & Reliability
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Asean power grid project making headway
Feb 13 - Business Times - Kuala Lumpur - THE Trans Asean Power Grid project is making steady progress with the RM325 million Malaysia-Thailand Stage II electricity interconnection project in operations since September last year.
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Plans for sub-sea cable still alive
Feb 14 - The Herald - Glasgow - PLANS for a 400-mile sub-sea cable from Lewis to south-west England to harvest Britain's major renewable energy resources remained alive last night, despite preliminary estimates which indicate costs far higher than first estimated.
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Appraiser Says Florida Utility's Tree-Trimming Plan Would Cut Property Values
The Miami Herald, Feb. 13 - Florida Power & Light's proposal for cutting trees to make way for 55-foot-high poles could reduce property values in Broward County, according to Property Appraiser William Markham.
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HARBOR CABLE PROJECT RECEIVES FERC APPROVAL
Westborough, MA, Feb. 14 (News Release) - On 13 February 2002, the Federal Electric Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued their Order approving Trans?nergie U.S. Ltd ?s proposed Harbor Cable project and authorizing the sale of transmission rights through an Open Season auction.
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Power Projects
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Speakers at Greenville, Ky.-Area Plant Hearing Tout Need for Jobs, Technology
By David Blackburn, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky., Feb. 13 - Speakers touted the need for jobs and assured the use of environmentally safe technology Tuesday night while urging state officials to hasten the approval of a proposed coal-fired power plant.
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Renewables
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UK to up renewable energy, keep nuclear door open
LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Britain should raise its target for energy supplied by renewable sources to 20 percent by 2020 but also keep open the option to invest anew in nuclear power, a government-commissioned report said on Thursday.
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UK industry says govt green target may raise costs
LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - British industry on Thursday said greater use of renewable energy like wind power, called for in a report to ministers, could push up costs and make UK companies less competitive in world markets.
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TXU says UK green scheme to cost it 20 mln stg
By Stuart Penson, LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S.-owned utility TXU Europe on Thursday said compliance with the UK's renewable energy obligation, due to start in April, would cost it about 20 million pounds ($28.56 million) in the scheme's first year.
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Use sought for methane from landfill
Feb 13 - South Bend Tribune - To some, talk of converting methane into electricity at the Southeast Berrien County Landfill is just so much hot air.
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Plants
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Cache Valley Electric Upgrades Equipment at Logan, Utah, Power Plant
Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah, Feb. 14 - Cache Valley Electric is currently upgrading equipment at a Logan power plant.
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Environmental
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EU welcomes Bush climate concern, defends Kyoto
BRUSSELS, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The European Union on Thursday tentatively welcomed U.S. President George W. Bush's new plan to tackle climate change but said the Kyoto treaty he has rejected was still the best response to global warming.
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Nuclear
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N.Y. Indian Point 2 nuclear plant has small leak
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A day before the second anniversary of a major tube failure at the Indian Point 2 nuclear unit in New York, the plant is once again leaking a small amount of radioactive water, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said Thursday.
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Md. Calvert Cliffs 1 nuke to refuel in mid-February
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Constellation Nuclear expects to refuel the 835 megawatt (MW) Calvert Cliffs 1 nuclear unit in Maryland in the middle of February, the company said Thursday.
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Finnish lawmakers debate permission for fifth nuclear reactor
Feb 13 - Associated Press - Hundreds of protesters chanted ``No to atomic power'' outside Parliament on Wednesday as lawmakers began debating the construction of a fifth nuclear reactor.
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Temelin operator threatened with sanctions
Feb 14, 2002 - Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) - State regulators have threatened to impose heavy fines and force a management shakeup at the utility operating the Temelin nuclear power plant.
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Nuclear Waste Site Choice Criticized
Feb 14, 2002 - United Press International - Nevada's congressional delegation joined environmental and anti-nuclear groups on Capitol Hill Thursday to ask the Bush administration to drop plans for a nuclear waste depository at Yucca Mountain, outside of Las Vegas.
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Lawmakers debate how to use test footage
Feb 13 - Las Vegas Review - Journal - Nevada lawmakers are weighing whether to focus national attention on a videotape that shows a missile blasting a hole in a nuclear waste canister.
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Financial
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Austin, Texas-Based Green Mountain Energy Reaps $24 Million in Funding
By Lori Hawkins, Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Feb. 14 - Austin-based electricity reseller Green Mountain Energy Co., which hopes to carve out a profitable niche in deregulating power markets by focusing on "clean" power, has raised $24 million in investment funds.
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Hydro One to pay C$1 billion to outsource tasks
TORONTO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Hydro One, Ontario's big electricity transmission utility, said on Wednesday it would pay C$1 billion ($630 million) over 10 years to outsource payroll, information technology and other tasks with the aim of saving money.
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Mirant asset sales on track - CFO
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Power generator and trader Mirant Corp. said on Thursday that a plan to strengthen its balance sheet with $1.6 billion in asset sales is on track, as it seeks to restore investor confidence in the wake of Enron Corp.'s collapse.
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Financial - Ratings
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RESEARCH ALERT - Duke Energy started by JP Morgan
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - J.P. Morgan said on Thursday it initiated coverage of Duke Energy Corp. with a "long-term buy" rating and a $40 price target.
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Financial - Results
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Central Vermont Service posts fourth quarter loss
RUTLAND, Vt., Feb 14 (Reuters) - Vermont and New Hampshire electric utility Central Vermont Public Service on Thursday said it posted a fourth-quarter net loss due to charges at its Catamount Energy Corp. unit and lower overall revenue.
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Quanta results in line, mum on investor unrest
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Quanta Services Inc., which offers services to the energy and telecommunications industries, Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings that met market expectations, but skirted the issue of a shareholder fight currently threatening the company's ownership.
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International
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India forms reform panel for electricity boards
CALCUTTA, India, Feb 14 (Reuters) - India has appointed a three-member panel headed by a leading financial expert to suggest ways to improve the performance of the cash-starved state electricity boards (SEBs), Power Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
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Electrical Engineering Giant ABB Wants Money Back from Two Former Chiefs
Evening Standard, London, Feb. 13 - Two of the most senior men in British boardrooms came under an unwelcome spotlight today after their former employer said it had paid them too much and was seeking to get some of the money back.
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