Two top-10 national energy marketers, Aquila Energy and EngageEnergy, started doing business July 29 in California on EnergyMarketplace, the retail natural gas and electricity Internetshopping center operated by Southern California Gas Co. Decliningto provide dollar or transaction volume statistics on the nearlytwo-year-old site, the nation’s first retail energy Internetshopping site, a SoCalGas spokesperson would only say that thereare other major announcements regarding Energy Marketplace that arepending and should be made in the near future.

SoCalGas said its web site now hosts 16 marketers serving bothgas and power to California customers. They pay fees to theInternet service to participate as a supplier receiving pricingrequests from customers and for advertising their company profileand services. The site, which began in November 1997 as a gas-onlyInternet marketing conduit, is still looking to expand to otherstates and negotiations in that regard are ongoing, according tothe SoCal spokesperson in Los Angeles.The addition of two largenational marketers “broadens the energy service offerings availableto our customers over the Internet,” said SoCalGas’s Lee Stewart,president of energy transportation services.

“We look forward to exploring additional avenues to markets inCalifornia and other geographic areas as Energy Marketplaceexpands,” said Richard McElroy, marketing vice president forEngage, which is a joint venture between $12 billion (US) CoastalCorp., and $11 billion (Canadian) Westcoast Energy, based inBritish Columbia. Aquila, which is part of UtiliCorp United, iscurrently ranked as the nation’s fourth largest gas and secondlargest electricity wholesaler.

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