Business News
SAN FRANCISCO– Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported that its 2011 solicitation for new supplies of renewable energy brought in more than 300 offers, a new record for the utility.
PG&E’s energy procurement staff are reviewing them closely to determine the most viable and cost-effective projects to meet customers’ long-term clean-energy needs.
“The highly competitive proposals we received offer affordable power to help us achieve the state’s renewable energy targets,” said Fong Wan, senior vice president for energy procurement at PG&E. “The tremendous response to our request reflects the robust supplies being offered by the renewable energy industry, which California has fostered through its aggressive state mandates.”
Since 2002, PG&E has signed more than 110 contracts for about 10,000 megawatts of renewable power.
PG&E now expects to be able to meet California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard, which requires all retail sellers of electricity to deliver 33 percent of their electricity by 2020 from eligible renewable resources like wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and small hydroelectric. The utility is on track to reach 20 percent this year.
Along with large hydro and nuclear power, PG&E now typically gets more than half of its electricity from sources that are essentially carbon-free, making it one of the cleanest utilities in the nation.
Once PG&E determines which of the new offers best suit its customers’ needs for clean energy, it will engage selected developers in negotiations, with the goal of submitting executed contracts to the California Public Utilities Commission by mid-year for review.
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SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang on Friday released his monthly report covering California's cash balance, receipts and disbursements in January, showing monthly revenues came in $528 million below the latest projections contained in the Governor's proposed 2012-13 Budget.
When compared against the 2011-12 Budget Act, January revenues were $1.2 billion below estimates.
"January revenues were disappointing on almost every front," said Chiang. "Thankfully the decisive actions taken recently by the State to stabilize its cash flow will ensure that California can pay its bills through the end of the fiscal year."
The Controller's Office had warned the governor and Legislature that general fund cash could dip below the minimum safety level of $2.5 billion on February 29, and slip into the red in March.
To address this potential cash problem, the Controller's Office worked with the Department of Finance and the Treasurer's Office to develop a series of short-term cash solutions to get the State though what is expected to be a seven-week cash shortfall.
They include additional external borrowing through the Treasurer's Office, a small number of delayed payments, and temporary borrowing from the University of California and California State University systems.
The state also has access to an additional $865 million of internal borrowable funds, due to recent legislation (SB 95) signed by the Governor last week.
To offer a complete view of the State's finances, the report issued today by the State Controller compares actual revenues and disbursements to figures from 2011, estimates from the 2011-12 Budget Act, and the latest projections found in the Governor’s proposed 2012-13 budget.
When compared to the Governor’s 2012-13 budget, personal income taxes in January were down $525 million (-5.5 percent), and corporate taxes also dropped by $128 million (-48.8 percent).
January sales tax totals came in above estimates by $42.8 million (5.6 percent).
The state ended last fiscal year with a cash deficit of $8.2 billion. The combined current-year cash deficit stands at $21 billion.
Those deficits are being covered with $15.6 billion of internal borrowing (temporary loans from special funds) and $5.4 billion of external borrowing.
For more details, read January 2012's financial statement at http://sco.ca.gov/ard_state_cash_fy1112.html.
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