The SJMN put my leeter on their web site.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/13476345.htm

Dear sir,

Your article on Calpine's bankruptcy and their request to cancel long term contracts brings back so many memories of the great electricity rip off of 2001 the deacle over the Metcalf Energy Center. After signing these contracts at the peak of the market the state tried to renogitiate and Calpine handed back $2 per MWhour about 3% of the price. Well now that the shoe is on the other foot I would be willing to be equally generous. If you want a reminder of how we consumers lost our shirts, check the DWR charge on your PG&E bill,because you are still paying off the debt.

Back then we were told that the reason we had paid forty billion dollars extra in the last two years and PG&E was forced into bankruptcy was the lack of long term contracts. Calpine were so proud of how much money they were going to make on the contracts they talked about them in analyst's conference calls, presumably stockholders assumed that they had locked in natural gas prices to support these claims.

The excess payments during the two year crisis cover the construction cost of all 22,000MW of new power plants approved by the California Energy Commission since 1999 more than two times over. Now it looks we have to pay a third time. Calpine is one of several power generators to have gone bankrupt in recent years. So where did our money go? I think we should be told.

Tim Alton