California energy regulators are set to make some long-contemplated gas and electricity changes this week, including unbundling Southern California Gas Co.’s intrastate pipeline and storage system so that shippers will have firm rights to capacity.

After nearly a year of delay on a natural gas related issue, the CPUC once again is scheduled to approve some form of further unbundling on SoCalGas’ transmission pipeline and underground storage operations in the southern half of the state. Individual SoCal gas shippers for the first time would be able to gain firm rights to transport and store gas and trade those rights on a secondary market, said Carl Wood, one of the five commissioners at the California Public Utilities Commission, noting that this would represent “a significant departure from the way the system has been regulated,” bringing it more in line with the system used by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in the northern half of the state.

However, the CPUC has not been able to gain any ground on a rate agreement with the Department of Water Resources (DWR), the state’s wholesale electricity buyer. Rumors circulated that the state treasurer’s office was going to set up a meeting by the end of this week to resolve the rate DWR agreement issue, which is holding up the anticipated sale of $12.5 billion in public revenue bonds to reimburse the state treasury for wholesale power purchases, but Wood told a news media briefing he was unaware of any meeting or initiative from the treasurer.

“Certainly we are interested in resolving these issues,” Wood said. “But the complexity of the issues involved has not been reduced at all. The CPUC is in discussions with (Gov. Gray Davis’) administration regarding what we are going to do with these long-term (power supply) contracts that were negotiated when the marketers had extreme market power and imposed very unfair terms on the state. I think it is unrealistic that we will break this logjam without dealing with that underlying issue.”

Separately, the CPUC when it meets for a regular twice-month business meeting Thursday will consider opening up energy efficiency programs to more than just the regulated utilities.”This would be a move away from funneling everything through the utilities in the energy efficiency area,” Wood said.

In addition, he said the regulators are primed to okay a settlement between San Diego Gas and Electric Co. and the CPUC’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates covering the utility’s power-buying from July 1999 through January this year when the state took over the procurement role. As part of the deal, SDG&E will reduce its outstanding unpaid wholesale power bills by $100 million, cutting the total to $590 million.

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