November 21, 2003
End Of The Week Catch-Up On Proposed PGE Purchase
Starting with yesterday's Oregonian, we've got other counties putting plans on hold regarding a potential public take-over of Portland General Electric, and a look at the ties between Texas Pacific Group and Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, including the news that TPG "told state Treasury officials that it had its eyes on Portland General Electric, months before Portland city leaders and the public found out this week."
Meanwhile, today's Oregonian reports that groups representing both residential and business ratepayers are seeking rate-cuts out of the proposed deal:
Texas Pacific, which has reached an agreement with Enron to buy PGE for $2.35 billion, isn't making any promises. In fact, it made no mention of rate cuts when it announced the purchase at a Tuesday news conference in downtown Portland.
Which isn't entirely accurate. as you can see from this story earlier this week from The Business Journal of Portland:
The new entity "will be completely separated from Enron," Goldschmidt said at a Portland news conference. OEUC will continue to support local charities and will pay all its taxes directly to the state of Oregon or local jurisdictions, he said. The change in ownership will not affect electricity rates, but PGE will likely continue making any cases for rate changes that management wishes to pursue, he added.
Perhaps I'm just being cynical, but when corporate hacks say "will not affect electricity rates" it's not just a way to say rates shouldn't go higher -- it's a way to explain that there will be not rate cuts if they have anything to say about it.
Anyway, this article also covers a lot of ground when it coems to laying out just how the plan proceeds from here, in terms of the various parties which have to approve it before it can move forward.
Also in today's Oregonian is a profile of Neil Goldschmidt, which covers much of the controversy over his move from government to corporate power.
Moving to today's Portland Tribune, we find an exploration of what it might mean to have PGE in the hands of Texas Pacific Group, and a peek at the "marathon negotiations" leading up to the deal.