Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Addressing a national panel, "Lesson Learned from the Enron Experience: How Will It Affect Regulation?" Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) Chairman Glen R. Thomas today urged state and federal regulators to move beyond the debate of what the fall of Enron means to the success or failure of competition, and to work together to finish the development of open markets.

"I am here to tell you that the perception that competition is dead after California and after Enron is wrong," said Chairman Thomas, addressing about 500 state and federal utility commissioners and their staffs, and industry and representatives at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Winter Meeting. "Enron’s only impact on competition is the perception that competition is failure, when the failure actually lies with Enron’s shoddy and unethical accounting practices.

"I ask you -- those states who once considered competition and those markets and organizations who worked so hard to encourage competition -- don’t walk away from your belief in competitive markets. Put your faith not in those who are saying -- loudly -- that competition is dead, but in marketplace solutions and the places where competition works. And, above all, don’t look at California or at Enron for the lessons of competition. Look at Pennsylvania. Following a year of bad news, Pennsylvania remains the national model for competition done right.

"This week and in the coming days, I am encouraging my colleagues bordering Pennsylvania to meet with us to continue the development of open markets. I urge my fellow state regulators in other regions of the country to do the same."

Chairman Thomas urged state and federal regulators to work together to:

• Form regional organizations approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to create a transmission system that meets the needs of the new marketplace;
• Ensure an adequate supply of power and sufficient capacity;
• Promote new and exciting generation technology and empower consumers with Demand Side Response tools;
• Make sure that vital utility infrastructure is as safe as it can be;
• Hasten the maturing of wholesale power markets; and
• Encourage marketers to move from the sidelines to the front lines by providing new offers to consumers.

Chairman Thomas said Enron’s impact on U.S. electric markets has been overstated. For instance, Enron never invested in Pennsylvania, even after its efforts to encourage competition there.

"The biggest problem with Enron is that we’re all wasting time talking about Enron," Chairman Thomas said. "The more we debate what Enron might or might not mean to competition, the more time we take away from the real job at hand -- to construct a national and regional infrastructure that will enable competitive markets to thrive and allow consumers to do what they’ve told us they want to do: shop for great deals on electricity."

Chairman Thomas’s complete speech at NARUC's Winter Meeting.