CMS Energy, Ameren Corp., KeySpan and UGI Corp. have joinedAllegheny Energy, Allete (formerly Minnesota Power) and PPL Corp.in the formation of Enporion Inc., a global e-procurement exchangefor the energy industry. The companies see the potential for bigsavings in pooling their buying power over the new exchange.

“This is a major step in taking advantage of technologicalcapabilities to unlock superior buying power, which will achievepurchasing savings and bring more value to our shareholders,” saidCMS Chairman William T. McCormick. “All energy utilities will beable to use this global partnership for their benefit.”

The global partnership will focus on building cost-effectiverelationships between buyers and sellers. Both buyers and sellersshould see reduced cycle times, lower inventories, lowertransaction costs and enhanced profitability, the companies said.

Enporion is scheduled for commercial operation by the end ofthis year. The Enporion partnership is similar to what 21utilities, including Unicom, Reliant, Southern, Sempra, AEP,ConEdison, Entergy and others, did in June with the formation ofPantellos Corp. The Pantellos sponsors hired Commerce One as theirprimary technology partner. Pantellos, with an initialcapitalization of $100 million, is scheduled to begin operationearly next year.

CMS’s Thomas Burnham, manager of purchasing, said Pantellos isnot open to any more investors. “We thought that Enporion gave usthe best opportunity to both be an investor and get the benefits ofprocess and product savings.”

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