Problem: BODY: Late afternoon 1/3/01 news: USA: Calif utility ratings may fall too far on 7-15 pct hike. By Jonathan Stempel 01/03/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. NEW YORK, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Bankruptcy may loom and the credit ratings of the two largest California electric utilities will likely fall too far if that state's Public Utilities Commission awards them an interim rate hike of 7 to 15 percent, analysts said Wednesday. In a draft decision on Wednesday, the CPUC proposed an immediate hike of 9 percent for residential customers of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison, and hikes of seven to 15 percent for various business customers. The CPUC commission is expected to issue a final decision on Thursday. "It forces the utilities and their creditors to be limbo dancers, and skilled limbo dancers at that," said Shawn Burke, head of U.S. investment-grade research at Barclays Capital. PG&E and SCE had requested respective rate increases of 26 percent and 30 percent, a hike that would help them avoid imminent bankruptcy. The utilities have also asked the regulators to remove a freeze on retail rates imposed under California's 1996 law that deregulated the state's electricity market. On a day when most stocks roared ahead after the Federal Reserve announced surprise interest rate cuts, investors beat down the stocks of Pacific G&E's parent, San Francisco-based PG&E Corp. , and SoCal Edison's parent, Edison International . PG&E shares closed Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange at $17, down $2-9/16, or 13.1 percent, while Edison International shares closed at $12-1/4, down $2-3/4, or 18.3 percent, on the Big Board. Bond quotations were not immediately available for the utilities' bonds, which in recent weeks have traded like junk. Pacific G&E and SoCal Edison were banking on a big rate hike to allow them to pass on some of their soaring wholesale power costs to consumers. The utilities, which operate under a rate freeze, have accumulated more than $8 billion in unrecovered costs since wholesale power prices started skyrocketing last summer amid a worsening electricity shortage in the state. They claim they are running out of money due to the price freeze, and have billions of dollars of bills coming due in the next six weeks. Central to their concerns is whether credit rating agencies Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's will cut their medium investment grades to junk status. "No one knows for sure, but if we consider the average rate hike is only about 10 percent, it will be difficult for the companies to maintain investment-grade ratings," said Dorothea Matthews, a fixed-income electric utilities analyst for Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. The utilities have already been unable to tap short-term capital markets because of their precarious financial state. Downgrades to junk, which the agencies have already threatened, would cement the door shut to these markets, and cause the utilities to default on some of their loans. Late Wednesday, PG&E Chief Executive Gordon Smith said the commission's proposed hikes could jeopardize his utility's future loans. Even a downgrade to the lowest investment grades - "Baa3" for long-term debt and "Prime-3" for short-term debt from Moody's, and "BBB-minus" and "A3" from S&P - would make the going very difficult for the utilities. The reason: short-term debt markets are often closed to companies with those ratings. "Unless this process allows the rating agencies to keep 'A2/P2' ratings on the short-term debt of both companies, then this process has largely been a waste of everyone's time," said Burke. Still, he said, "there is a reasonable chance, despite today's weak recommendation, that the situation can be salvaged with mid-'triple-B' ratings, which would allow a lifeline to conventional sources of liquidity." Moody's and S&P were not available for comment. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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A: SUBJECT: Late Press on PUC Decision

Problem: BODY: COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORPORATION NOTICE TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES OCTOBER 29, 2001 Notice ID: 3225 5 - NO RESPONSE REQUIRED SUBJECT: CAPACITY ALLOCATION-TIMELY NOMINATION CYCLE FOR OCTOBER 30, 2001 PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL ALLOCATIONS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE BASED ON THE RECEIPT OF ANY NEW NOMINATIONS OR INTRADAY NOMINATIONS. RECEIPTS: ALLOCATIONS DUE TO LONG WALL MINING OF LINE SM-123: For the following MLI points: There is no capacity for IPP customers. There is no capacity for ITS customers. There is no capacity for secondary firm customers. There is no capacity for overruns. Equitable Hi Hat MLI F3 KYWV Beaver Creek MLI H1 CNR Boldman MLI CNR02 CNR Conoway MLI CNR03 CNR Johns Creek MLI CNR08 CNR Canada MLI CNR09, CNR10 CNR Stafford MLI CNR11 CNR Thacker/Majestic MLI CNR12 CNR Briar Mtn. MLI CNR13 CNR Huff Creek MLI CNR14 Conoco Grant MLI P1 TENNESSEE: BRINKER: New IPP customers received equal shares of October 30, 2001 available capacity. LEBANON AGGREGATE: There is no capacity for new IPP customers. Flowing IPP customers received 155.686% of their October 29, 2001 flowing volumes or their October 30, 2001 nominated quantities, whichever was less. TCO-LEACH: New IPP customers received 41.591% of their October 30, 3001 nominated quantities. INTERNAL CONSTRAINT: LANHAM: There is no capacity for IPP customers. There is no capacity for ITS customers. There is no capacity for secondary firm customers. Excess MDWQ Available + ISS Withdrawals Available SIT Withdrawals Available Imbalance Drawdowns Available Excess MDIQ Available + ISS Injections Available SIT Injections Available Imbalance Paybacks Available PAL Lends/Unparks Available PAL Parks/Loan Paybacks Available + Call Gas Control 24 hours in advance at (304) 357-2606 to request approval. Columbia Gas Transmission has completed allocating all of its receipt and delivery points for the gas days of October 30, 2001. You may now view the quantities you are authorized to flow on October 30, 2001. On the Internet NAVIGATOR, view Nominations, Scheduled Quantity, Scheduled Quantity for Service Requestor-Summary, Nominations to be Viewed, and select Reduced Nominations. The quantities confirmed to flow for your account are available on the Internet NAVIGATOR after 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, October 29, 2001. If you have any questions, please contact your Account Representative.
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A: SUBJECT: TCO- CAPACITY ALLOC-TIMELY NOMINATION CYCLE OCT. 30, 2001

Problem: BODY: Jason: All I could find was a message from "Aaron" (in JUNE, 2000!) and the number was 212-409-0812. The only phone number that Sheila's group has is for Erin of Lou DeSimone, both of whom are printed on the fax cover sheet which I believe you have. Just keep a record of who you contact. Thanks. Sara
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A:
SUBJECT: Ing Barings