Competitive Bidding Yields Favorable Terms in Power Purchase

• Client: GreyStone Power Corp.
• Date: June 2010
• Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Summary:

Attorneys in Schiff Hardin's Washington, D.C. office assisted a rural electric distribution cooperative with a five-year $600 million power purchase and scheduling agreement.

The cooperative, GreyStone Power Corp., supplies electric power to eight counties in the metro-Atlanta area. It is a member of Oglethorpe Power Corp., a generation and transmission cooperative, which supplies most of GreyStone's power.

When GreyStone needed additional supply, it opened a competitive procurement process, seeking bids and negotiating prices with several potential suppliers. A deal was ultimately struck with Morgan Stanley Capital Group, which trades in the energy market and helps meet the needs of distributors like GreyStone.

Schiff Hardin negotiated simultaneously on contract terms and price among three parties who developed final and best offers. The competitive process gave the client more opportunity to negotiate and ultimately drove down the power purchase price.