A story that ran in NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index Oct. 14 falselyreported that a state court had ordered the break-up of ProLianceEnergy. It also contained several other inaccuracies. The decisionby the Indiana appellate court merely reversed an order by theIndiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) in which supplycontracts between ProLiance and affiliates Indiana Gas and CitizensGas Light & Coke were approved. The court ruled thatcontractual provisions relating to the use of published gas priceindexes required a different approval process. ProLiance “disagreeswith the court’s interpretation of the state statute and believesthat the IURC had full authority to approve the contracts under thestatutes cited in the IURC’s opinion.” The company intends toappeal the decision. The decision also does not require refunds tocustomers.

The court decision does not impact the validity of ProLiance’sformation. The IURC does not have jurisdiction over the formationof an unregulated company such as ProLiance. Nor does the decisionaffect contracts between ProLiance and its non-utility gas andpower marketing customers, which contribute over $250 million inrevenues annually for ProLiance. ProLiance Energy continues tooperate. Indiana Energy and Citizens Gas & Coke Utility standbehind all ProLiance commitments to its customers.

ProLiance Energy also disputes the statement of Jerry Polk withthe Citizens Action Coalition who said ProLiance shared facilitieswith its affiliate utilities. ProLiance maintains it is “astand-alone company with separate offices, separate employees andseparate systems.”

NGI regrets the errors.

©Copyright 1998 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press,Inc.