Monday, November 9, 2009

Flies Fly In, Flies Fly Out

Dear God,

I'm thinking maybe it's time for Entergy to pony up for a full, paying subscription for me with the Wall Street Journal Online.

Look what I found there today (posted, actually on November 3):

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (Dow Jones)--Entergy Corp. (ETR) remains committed to spinning off five of its nuclear power plants into a stand-alone company, but the company's chief executive suggested a possible alternative Tuesday if it can't win regulatory approval in New York.

Entergy Chairman and Chief Executive J. Wayne Leonard said the company could spin off its utility businesses into a stand-alone company to accomplish the same goal of separating its regulated utility businesses concentrated in the Southeast from its nuclear plants that sell ....

And that's all I know! Because to read the rest of the article, I need a paying subscription, but Entergy is so miserly about paying for anything here at Vermont Yankee, that I don't have one!

Anyway, it looks like, if Entergy can't spin Enexus off, it might spin off everything else into some phenomenally wealthy, as-yet-unnamed entity and leave the five merchant plants to a newly impoverished Entergy. I call that creative thinking! Hey, that's why we pay him the big bucks!

Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! (Echo, echo, echo.)

Pete Shumlin, close your mouth before the flies fly in. You shoulda seen this comin'!

Amen,

Fake-Rob

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

power at market prices.

"We don't expect to go down that route, but it is a path to get you back to where you were. It just takes us longer and (requires) more regulatory approvals," said Leonard, speaking at the Edison Electric Institute's financial conference in Florida.

The New Orleans-based power company has been looking to create the nation's first stand-alone nuclear power company for two years. The deal was first stymied by the global credit freeze as Entergy needs to access billions of dollars in new debt to create the company, to be called Enexus Energy Corp. Now it's awaiting a decision from New York, where the spinoff has faced a push-back from consumer advocates and elected officials.

Leonard said in an interview ahead of Tuesday's presentation that the nuclear spinoff still makes sense for investors as well as consumers. Investors get to realize the full value of both businesses, while consumers have more assurances the nuclear plants will continue to operate even if unexpected operational problems arise.

But Leonard added investor fatigue exists when it comes to the spinoff plan. Most shareholders want stock in either the nuclear spinoff or the utility business instead of the current combined company.

"The people that are in the stock have very strong feelings about what piece of paper they want," he said.

Leonard stressed in his remarks Tuesday the company is making progress in front of New York and Vermont regulators. Approvals from the two states represent the final regulatory hurdles. Enexus would own two plants in New York and one in Vermont. Leonard said financing the deal is no longer an issue, with capital available at rates similar to when Entergy first proposed the deal.

New York regulators could decide as early as mid-December on the deal. A new round of comments were due Monday by various parties in the case, but weren't available on the New York Public Service Commission Web site yet. Entergy to date has faced resistance from public officials who are concerned Enexus will have too much debt and won't follow through on past agreements to invest in the plants. The nuclear plants in the spinoff include Indian Point and James Fitzpatrick in New York.

Shares of Entergy were recently off 55 cents at $76.65.