As part of its ongoing effort to address coordination in the natural gas and power industries, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) staff said it will hold a technical conference on Feb. 13 at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC, to focus on information-sharing and communications issues between natural gas and electric power industry companies. The technical conference is the first of two conferences that FERC directed staff in mid-November (see Daily GPI, Nov. 19) to convene to address common issues that were raised in nearly every region in August (see Daily GPI, Aug. 31; Aug. 29; Aug. 21; Aug. 24). In advance of the conference, parties are asked to file comments on specific questions related to information-sharing and communications (www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/Files/20121207134434-AD12-12-000TC1.pdf). The conference is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. EST.

The issue involving a minority of California utility customers rebelling against smart natural gas and electric meters will be aired this month in a series of public hearings conducted by the state regulatory commission beginning Thursday and continuing through Dec. 20. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said it is holding the sessions to hear from consumers on the issue of costs and cost allocation for customers choosing to opt out of the statewide program to have advanced metering systems from both gas and electric utility customers. The major investor-owned utilities will have representatives at the meetings to listen and respond to consumer questions about the opt-out choice, which assesses a $75 initial fee and a monthly charge of $10 thereafter; low-income customers pay a $10 fee and $5/month. The sessions will be held in Bakersfield (Thursday); Santa Barbara (Friday); Los Angeles (next Monday); San Clemente (Dec. 18) and Santa Rosa (Dec. 20).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Monday issued a favorable environment assessment for Gas Transmission Northwest’s proposed lateral that would provide up to 175,000 Dth/d of natural gas delivery capacity to Portland General Electric‘s planned 300-500 MW Carty Generating Station in the Pacific Northwest, which is considered one of the fastest growing power markets. The lateral project calls for the construction of 24.3 miles of 20-inch diameter pipeline and associated facilities in Morrow County, OR.

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