Rick Ring

Richard “Rick” Ring was a specialist in Enron Energy Services who worked in the East Power Risk Management Department, where he managed renewable energy supply, environmental disclosure compliance, and federal government power contracts. Ring emerged as Enron’s leading figure in green power products, overseeing the supply side of initiatives including the “BizMix” renewable energy product, renewable energy certificates (RECs), and environmental disclosure labels for multiple states. He also managed the GSA Region 1 Electric Generation Contract, which provided power to federal facilities across New England.

Ring’s email archive in the Enron corpus contains 1,067 indexed messages from 266 unique senders, spanning July 23, 2001 to November 30, 2002. Volume-adjusted term analysis reveals that Ring ranked first in the entire Enron corpus for terms including “renewable,” “green,” “environmental,” and “credits,” confirming his central role in the company’s clean energy initiatives.

Career at Enron

East Power Risk Management Department

Richard Ring worked in the East Power Risk Management Department at Enron Energy Services, a position that placed him at the intersection of power trading, environmental compliance, and renewable energy origination. His work focused on the eastern United States power markets, including the PJM Interconnection, New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), New England Power Pool (NEPOOL), and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

Ring reported to or worked closely with Narsimha Misra in the East Power Risk Management group. As one colleague noted in July 2001: “I’m doing some research for Narsimha Misra and Richard Ring for the East Power Risk Mgmt. Dept.” This placement within EES’s risk management structure meant Ring handled both the supply-side logistics and the financial aspects of Enron’s renewable and environmental products.

System Administrator Role

Beyond his core responsibilities, Ring served as the ERCOT System Administrator for Enron. This administrative function caused some operational friction, as documented in a September 19, 2001 internal email: “Please see the note below from Richard Ring. He is currently the ERCOT System administrator and it is causing some problems and he does not want to do it anymore. We need to figure out who would be the best person to control this.” The role illustrates how specialists like Ring often accumulated ancillary responsibilities that extended beyond their primary expertise.

GSA Region 1 Electric Generation Contract

One of Ring’s most significant responsibilities was managing supply for the GSA Region 1 Electric Generation Contract, a multi-year agreement to provide power to federal government facilities throughout New England. As Ring explained in an October 3, 2001 communication detailing the contract structure.

The contract represented a five-year commitment to serve federal facilities at rates below the standard utility offer, a structure that required careful management of power supply and pricing to maintain margins while meeting government requirements. Ring’s role extended beyond mere supply management to include coordinating renewable energy aggregation opportunities with the Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In August 2001, Stacey Bolton described Ring’s involvement: “Richard Ring who manages the supply for the GSA Region 1 Electric Generation Contract regarding the potential aggregation of RECs to DOE’s and NREL’s facilities/labs across the US.”

The GSA contract work came to an abrupt end in November 2001 as Enron’s financial situation deteriorated. On November 5, 2001, Ring documented: “I was informed that EESI is no longer interested in doing ‘any’ deals that involve the Federal Government.” This withdrawal from federal business reflected the broader collapse of Enron’s commercial relationships as the company’s creditworthiness evaporated.

Renewable Energy and Green Power Products

California BizMix

Ring managed the supply side of Enron’s “BizMix” green power product in California, which provided commercial customers with renewable energy through the California Energy Commission’s Subaccount Program. The BizMix product allowed customers to receive power with a specified percentage of renewable content, with Enron managing the complex task of sourcing and certifying that renewable supply.

The BizMix program faced challenges in early 2001 when the CEC customer credit funds that subsidized green power purchases were depleted in January. Ring was consulted on whether to continue offering the product without the subsidy support: “Perhaps Richard can work a deal for tags, but I still think this would be a premium and affect their positions in CA.” This exchange illustrates the commercial tension inherent in green power products, where the underlying renewable supply often carried premium pricing that required external support to make marketable.

Ring worked closely with Stacey Bolton of Environmental Strategies, Marianne Castano, and Heather Mathis on the BizMix product, coordinating the supply procurement, renewable energy certificate tracking, and customer communication aspects of the program.

Environmental Disclosure Labels

State environmental disclosure requirements became an increasingly significant compliance burden for retail electricity providers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and Ring managed Enron’s compliance across multiple jurisdictions including Massachusetts, Ohio, New Jersey, and California. These disclosure labels required electricity suppliers to report the fuel mix and emissions characteristics of the power they provided to customers.

Ring’s expertise in this area was detailed enough that he provided specific emissions data for disclosure calculations. In July 2001, external counsel Sandy Cofer of LeBoeuf Lamb noted: “I just received a call from Richard Ring with new system power #’s on the MA label.” The emissions data Ring worked with for Massachusetts disclosure labels demonstrated the environmental advantages of newer generation sources over regional averages:

These dramatic differences in criteria pollutants (nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide) between new generation and regional averages formed the basis for marketing cleaner power products to environmentally conscious customers.

Renewable Product Development

Ring actively contributed to developing Enron’s renewable energy product offerings, working closely with Elliot Mainzer of the Renewable Power Desk at Enron North America. In October 2001, Ring provided detailed feedback on renewable product descriptions.

This feedback reveals Ring’s sophisticated understanding of both the regional power market geography and the commercial nuances of renewable energy products. The distinction between new and existing renewables was particularly important, as many state renewable portfolio standards offered additional credits or premiums for newly constructed renewable facilities versus existing hydroelectric or other legacy renewable sources.

Landfill Gas and Biomass Sourcing

Ring managed contracts for renewable energy supply from landfill gas generation facilities, including the Badlands Landfill facility in Riverside County, California. In October 2001, Ring documented one such transaction: “Based on our telephone conversation of Wednesday, October 10, 2001 Enron Energy Services, Inc. has agreed to pay a price of $32.50/MWh for January 2001 production from the Badlands Landfill generation facility. The total production for January 2001 from the Badlands Landfill generation facility is 151.579 MWh’s.”

These landfill gas contracts provided Enron with a source of renewable energy credits and actual green power supply to support its retail green power products. The $32.50/MWh price point represented a significant premium over conventional generation in that period, reflecting the value Enron could extract from bundling the environmental attributes with commodity power for green-minded customers.

Capacity Market Trading

PJM UCAP Trading

Ring participated in capacity market trading, particularly Unforced Capacity (UCAP) credits in the PJM Interconnection. Capacity markets allow load-serving entities to procure commitments from generators to be available during peak demand periods, separate from the energy itself. In October 2001, Ring executed a significant capacity transaction: “I purchased 100MW of UCAP Credits for next Planning Year (June 2002 thru May 2003) at a price of $48.00 MW/D; the deal has been input into Deal Tracker and is identified by Deal Number TR 17004.”

The $48.00 per MW-day price for a 100MW position represented a substantial financial commitment spanning twelve months. Ring also proposed modifications to PJM ICAP pricing curves in mid-October 2001: “Attached is a spreadsheet which indicates my proposed changes to the ICAP curves. Let me know what you think prior to implementation.” This involvement in pricing curve methodology suggests Ring played a role in Enron’s capacity market strategy beyond simple execution.

NYISO and NEPOOL Markets

Ring tracked capacity markets across multiple regional transmission organizations. His email archive shows extensive communication with the NYISO Technical Exchange mailing list (37 emails) and involvement in NEPOOL capacity matters. The interconnected nature of East Coast capacity markets meant that positions in one region often had implications for hedging and trading strategies in adjacent markets.

NEPOOL Membership and Financial Assurance

One of Ring’s most detailed documented activities involved managing NEPOOL membership compliance and the performance bond requirements that became critical during Enron’s financial deterioration in fall 2001. Ring provided a comprehensive explanation of the situation in an October 25, 2001 communication to Rogers Herndon.

Ring documented that EESI’s original $8,000,000 performance bond, issued through Fireman’s Fund in June 2000, had become insufficient and needed to be increased to $20,000,000. However, the bond company refused to process the increase until Enron paid approximately $150,000 in outstanding invoices for other performance bonds: “I was notified by Credit Department on October 16, 2001 that the bond company Enron utilizes for performance bond(s) would not process our Performance Bond request for increase until Enron paid the bond company for outstanding invoices for ‘other’ performance bonds (bond renewals), approximately $150,000.”

This documentation provides a ground-level view of how Enron’s financial stress manifested in operational constraints months before the company’s bankruptcy filing. The inability to post increased financial assurance threatened Enron’s continued participation in wholesale power markets at exactly the moment when maintaining trading operations was most critical.

Key Correspondents

Ring’s communication patterns reveal a specialist embedded in a network of environmental and renewable energy experts, power traders, and external stakeholders including regulatory contacts and counterparties.

The dominance of Stacey Bolton (Environmental Strategies) and Elliot Mainzer (Renewable Power Desk) in Ring’s correspondence confirms his central role in Enron’s green energy initiatives. Bolton collaborated with Ring on environmental disclosure compliance, green power product development, and the DOE/NREL renewable aggregation proposal. Mainzer worked with Ring on renewable product specifications and pricing strategies across regional markets.

Crisis Period Activity

Ring’s email activity pattern shows a dramatic spike in October 2001, with 447 emails compared to 131 in September and just 40 in November. This surge coincided with Enron’s accelerating financial crisis and reflects the intense operational activity required to manage positions, address counterparty concerns, and manage the collapsing credit situation.

The January 2002 activity spike corresponds to Green Power and Enron Wind termination discussions as the bankruptcy estate unwound positions and contracts. On October 26, 2001, Ring received a document preservation notice related to LJM litigation, indicating his records were deemed potentially relevant to investigations even at his specialist level.

In November 2001, Christopher Calger noted that “Richard Ring has a clear mandate to set up a book and cover the short positions in the East,” suggesting Ring was tasked with managing Enron’s renewable and environmental exposure during the crisis rather than simply winding down operations.

Legal Status

Richard Ring was not named in Department of Justice prosecutions, SEC enforcement actions, or other legal proceedings related to Enron’s collapse. His position as a mid-level specialist focused on renewable energy and environmental compliance placed him outside the financial engineering and accounting activities that became the focus of criminal investigations. No secondary sources documenting legal involvement were found.

See Also

• Stacey Bolton - Environmental Strategies lead, Ring’s primary collaborator
• Elliot Mainzer - Renewable Power Desk, product development partner
• Narsimha Misra - East Power Risk Management
• Enron Energy Services - Ring’s business unit

References

This article draws on 1,067 emails from Richard Ring’s archive in the Enron corpus, spanning July 23, 2001 to November 30, 2002. Volume-adjusted TF-IDF analysis confirmed Ring’s corpus-leading position in renewable energy, environmental, and green power terminology. No external secondary sources specifically mentioning Ring were identified in DOJ, SEC, or academic databases, consistent with his mid-level position outside the scope of legal proceedings.