UC Davis Medical Center Could Lose Millions On Energy Sales

UC Davis Medical Center has become "one of the latest casualties" of the state's power crisis, as a deal to sell extra megawatts of electricity to the state has collapsed, the Sacramento Bee reports. Just over a year ago, the medical center hired Utility.com to sell extra power from its $64 million natural gas-powered generator. UC Davis Medical Center purchased the generator in 1998 and had been selling extra energy in "recent months" to offset "soaring natural gas costs." However, Utility.com notified the hospital on Monday that it was "no longer doing business," without saying when or "if" it would pay the medical center the millions of dollars owed for already supplied power. The hospital should have received $1.7 million for power sold in October and is due "millions more" for the subsequent months. Since July, the hospital has earned $4.7 million in power sales, but spent $8 million on natural gas. Tony Moddesette, plant operations coordinator for UC Davis Health System, said, "If we don't recover these funds, it will be a huge hit to our bottom line" (Rapaport, Sacramento Bee, 1/30).