article enron wsj 4 17 01 april 17 2001 economy electricity facilities sprout near tiny tennessee town john j fialka staff reporter wall street journal nutbush tenn town 100 people seen anything quite electrifying since 1950 local teenager annie mae bullock left town became tina turner queen rock n roll power plants sprouting flat rich cotton fields nearby one construction another start bulldozers grooming site third think great says alvin williams owner nutbush grocery deli prepares surge construction workers come lunch may seem promising time growing energy shortages new plants part power clash presents bush administration federal state regulators one knottiest problems controls nation power grid one side new breed freewheeling energy dealers called merchant traders spurred deregulation generate trade electricity led enron corp build small gas fired generating plants construct power lines instead hook plants existing lines sell electricity wholesale long distances prices peak summer thus many plants called peakers side old line utilities represented federally owned tennessee valley authority operate power lines warn system could become overloaded leading blackouts imbalance near nutbush tennessee southwest corner natural gas pipelines run gulf coast intersect tva 17 000 miles transmission lines spread seven southern states making nutbush boom attractive place connect grid 2003 least 13 new merchant plants altogether hooked across tva system dozens neighboring systems also use tva lines says w terry boston tva executive vice president year tva expects 300 000 requests wholesale power deals system 250 000 last year 25 000 1996 mr boston foresees congestion problem make difficult utility maintain record 99 reliability summer going interesting says combat started spring 1999 enron plant nearby brownsville began bombarding tva 800 requests summer transmission service 33 tva received merchant plants year huge elaborate trades involving brokered electricity sources enron wanted ship across tva system kevin presto enron vice president recalled tva pretty much fought us whole way even though needed megawatts june tva pulled plug telling enron wheeling dealing would confined amount electricity produced enron plants enron claimed foul appealed north american electric reliability council nerc voluntary organization utilities electricity consumers along federal energy regulatory commission state regulators nerc functions traffic cop north america power grid enron also sued tva dispute raised number issues trying put fingers says benjamin nerc director operations one upshot busy rewriting rules national grid controlled bush administration energy task force congress also looking control issue ways expand grid capacity far found easy inexpensive answers grid dense webs surrounding major cities links resembles u highway map 1930 interstate system built governed rules negotiated utilities time began interconnect systems neighbors big utilities became control areas perform moment moment adjustments keep lines overloading equipment melting electricity supply must always match demand lately operators merchant plants enron also qualified become control areas regulators ordered utilities give merchant power plants open access grid though utilities sometimes curtail access reliability reasons good system sighs thomas overbye engineering professor university illinois merchant plants access grid notes little incentive build power lines restructure way asserts mr overbye going overload system exactly happening nerc mr benjamin worries control get harder summer got able look see effects deals whole system says ad hoc curtailment wholesale deals service customers may necessary protect grid result expensive notes means merchants make money deal customer sold power buy somebody else summer 1999 70 curtailments last summer 180 lynn church president electric power supply association represents 40 merchant power companies electricity traders suspects decisions taken big utilities reliability reasons sometimes used block legitimate competition members prevent group wants federal control grid seeing lots discrimination tva mr boston counters system take surprises one aug 19 1999 series wholesale trades brought tva part grid brink collapse overload year enron settled fight tva secret court settlement enron says also process selling plant near two others hooked tva system merchant power producers still waging war controls grid separate case u supreme court enron argues ferc power open grid capacity merchant power plants utility commissioners several states argue going ferc pondering cut back grid proliferating number control areas right 150 according one ferc expert asked identified avoid complications around 14 meanwhile officials tina turner home turf still want power plant construction keep rocking going others predicts john sharpe executive haywood county recruiting power plants keep local economic boost going working pants try make happen write john j fialka john fialka wsj com