Dominion, which already had some trading appetizers on the table, is taking a bigger bite of the dotcom marketplace, announcing last week that its Dominion Energy Clearinghouse will offer a one-stop shop customized for its wholesale customers to price and buy energy commodities.

The clearinghouse, headquartered with its parent company in Richmond, VA, complements Dominion’s B2B services and is designed for existing customers, according to spokesman Dan Donovan. The service will focus on wholesale customers in the Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, buying and selling electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, coal and emission allowances, and offering asset management services. Throughout the Northeast, the clearinghouse will offer customer service support, capacity, storage and balancing services along interstate pipelines.

For Dominion, the newest venture is but another B2B menu option. In October, Dominion launched an Internet site (domenergypro.com) to offer energy professionals news, information and services. The site, a service of Dominion Energy Direct Sales Inc., offers an aggregated industry news service for energy professionals and related fields, and it has real-time access to Nymex-related articles and information. The newest Internet venture is an offshoot of the news service, according to Donovan, and customers will be able to reach the clearinghouse through the news site.

In September, Dominion teamed up with TXU Energy Trading, Coral Energy, Koch Energy Trading Inc., Williams Energy Marketing and Trading, and voice brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald to form TradeSpark (see NGI, Oct. 2). Dynegy Inc. and Entergy Corp. are expected to also become partners in the TradeSpark venture. TradeSpark, a neutral exchange, offers commodity trading also. It will not compete with Dominion’s trading site, but rather offer another avenue for new customers.

To contact the clearinghouse, visit the website at www.dom.com/operations/clearinghouse.

Carolyn Davis, Houston

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