Cutting hospitals costs with Enron
Enron Corp has signed agreements to provide energy consulting services to two chains in health care, including hospitals, in New England and in the Philadelphia area. Through Enron Energy Services, it will provide an "energy solutions programme" to 935 members of HSNE Inc (Healthcare Services of New England) to help them reduce costs during electricity deregulation. The chain, based in Massachusetts, provides group purchasing services to its members in New England and eastern New York state, which include acute health care facilities. And Delaware Valley Healthcare Council, based in Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, has formed an alliance with Enron Energy Services to help its 150 members -- which include hospitals and nursing homes in south east Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware -- respond to electricity deregulation and reduce energy costs. The council's energy subsidiary, Delaware Valley Energy Options, estimates that members could reduce their bills by more than one-fifth via energy efficiency alone. Enron is jockeying to supply consumers in Pennsylvania with electricity. In October it filed a "Choice Plan" with state regulators that would allow it to offer Philadelphia consumers twice as big a rate reduction until the year 2000 than they are being offered by the utility PECO.