Even under the protection of Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy proceedings, April is still a month for shelling out tax payments. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. paid $67.8 million last Wednesday in property tax payments to the 49 counties in which it operates in the northern half of California. Combined with an additional $145 million the utility will pay in local franchise fees during the month, the company plans to distribute $212 million to California cities and counties by the end of April. The PG&E utility’s CEO Gordon Smith emphasized that the tax payments are part of the company’s role in helping “fund vital public services,” undoubtedly a fact the companies will stress in promoting their proposed reorganization of the utility in bankruptcy court, spinning off all the nondistribution operations. State officials are strongly opposing this, offering their alternative plan that would keep the utility intact. The major property tax payment by the utility was $11.6 million to San Luis Obispo County, along the central California coast where the PG&E Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Plant is located. That is more than double the next largest county payment, which was $5.3 million to Alameda County in the East San Francisco Bay..

Key industry experts will be participating in the North American Gas Strategies Conference: North American Natural Gas: Surviving Volatility, hosted by Ziff Energy in Houston April 15-16. Attendees will get a first-hand look at what the experts say the impact of expansions means to conventional gas trade. Discussions on the potential of imported and frontier gas, and the bilateral to trilateral integration of the new U.S. energy policy are sure to generate debate, Ziff Energy says. The conference will be held at the Houstonian Hotel. For more information go to https://ziffenergyconferences.com or phone: (800) 853-6252.

South Jersey Gas, which serves 288,000 customers in New Jersey, is refunding $17.6 million to its customers, resulting in a typical residential credit of $58. The refund, which will appear on May bills, results from lower natural gas costs experienced by the Folsom, NJ-based company, a subsidiary of South Jersey Industries. Charles Biscieglia, CEO of South Jersey Industries, said the refund follows a warmer-than-anticipated winter, “which allowed us to use primarily pipeline gas rather than the more expensive stored gas. Then, the price of pipeline gas decreased, lowering our costs even more.” South Jersey Gas petitioned the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to allow customers to receive the refunds in May, rather than in November, as they were originally scheduled.

Bristol, VA-based The United Company said that on March 29 its subsidiary, United Energy Corp., closed its $110 million acquisition of oil and gas properties from El Paso Production Co. The acquisition includes 108 Bcf of proved natural gas reserves located in South Texas, with daily net production of approximately 30 MMcf. The properties will be operated by United Oil & Minerals LP. “We are very excited to have completed this acquisition, as it immediately doubles production from our Texas operations and provides considerable exploration, enhancement, and consolidation opportunities,” said James W. McGlothlin, The United Co.’s CEO. “This transaction demonstrates The United Company’s ongoing commitment to the oil and gas business.”

Following the completion of the PanCanadian Energy and Alberta Energy Company Ltd. merger earlier this month, EnCana Corp. — the unified oil and gas company — completed its first day of public trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. CEO Gwyn Morgan last Monday made the symbolic inaugural purchase of EnCana common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while EnCana Chairman David O’Brien was on the floor of the NYSE to purchase the symbolic first 100 EnCana shares traded on the NYSE. EnCana also began operations Monday across North America and in numerous locations around the world. With an enterprise value exceeding C$30 billion and daily production of more than 700,000 boe, EnCana is a one of the world’s largest independent oil and gas companies. “This is truly a historic day for our industry and our home country, Canada, but it’s also historic for employees and communities wherever we operate in the world – from Denver to Casper to Quito and London,” Morgan told more than 2,000 employees. “Our mission is to build a global, world class company, yet retain the agility of a small company, where high performance teams are free to create and act upon opportunities, and be rewarded for success.”

Steady but slow — that’s the conclusion of the Ohio Consumers Counsel (OCC), which has released a report on the status of the state’s electric choice program, now in its second year. Since it was launched in Jan. 2001, more than 626,000 residential customers, or about 16% eligible, have switched to a different supplier, most as part of a community aggregation, or collective buying group. However, only two of the state-certified suppliers still are actively marketing — and some parts of Ohio have limited or no choices. Even though many customers have switched, the OCC noted that residential customers in some parts of Ohio have few supplier choices, and customers served by Dayton Power and Light, Monongahela Power and Ohio Power still do not have any opportunity to switch suppliers. OCC canvassed state-certified suppliers for information as to why the competitive marketplace has not developed more quickly. Input from suppliers indicated that the combination of relatively higher wholesale electric prices and the comparatively low retail prices established by law for customers of Ohio’s electric utilities leaves little room for new suppliers to compete. The complete text of OCC’s report, including additional recommendations is available online at www.pickocc.org or by calling (877) PICK OCC.

A shareholder of Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy Inc. has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to hold a hearing on Xcel’s bid to buy back the 26% of NRG Energy Inc. it does not already own. According to the request, the shareholder is questioning the offer price for NRG’s stock and whether the Xcel offer is “detrimental to the public interest,” among other things. Xcel’s revised offer, approved by NRG earlier this month, would exchange one-half share of an Xcel common share for each outstanding share of NRG, putting the value of NRG at $12.50 a share (see Power Market Today, April 5). However, shareholder Elizabeth H. Smith, of Charlottesville, VA, has asked for an SEC hearing to consider issues related to the federal Public Utility Holding Company Act, designed to protect the shareholders and customers of utilities.

The Arizona Corporation Commission has approved the La Paz Generating Facility proposed for La Paz County in southwestern Arizona. When completed in 2005, the merchant power plant will be capable of delivering 1,080 MW to the power grid. Allegheny Energy Supply, the project developer, expects to begin construction on the $540 million natural gas-fired plant later this year. The plant will include a 100 kW solar array to augment the project’s own electricity use, becoming the second merchant power plant required to incorporate solar technology as a core part of the total project. The developers had strong support from the communities surrounding the project site, located in a sparsely populated part of the state. Before construction begins, Allegheny has to provide a technical study detailing that operation of the plant will not compromise the reliable operation of the interconnected transmission system. If upgrades to the transmission system are necessary, the study has to identify the upgrades to be completed before the project begins commercial operations. Before selling power elsewhere, La Paz must first offer wholesale power to companies serving Arizona users.

Unitil Corp. subsidiary Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Co., based in Hampton, NH, filed a proposal with the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (MDTE) to increase its electric default service rates. If approved, the rate increase would be in effect between June 1 and Nov. 30. The new rates, said officials, reflect an increase in the wholesale market cost of electricity, determined through a new market solicitation process conducted to acquire electric default service supply for the next six months. Under the proposal, the default service rate for residential customers would increase to 5.341 cents/kWh from the currently effective rate of 4.996 cents/kWh. As a result, a typical residential customer on default service using 500 kWh per month would have a monthly bill increase to $64.34 from the current level of $62.62, or 2.8%. Commercial and industrial customers currently taking default service would have increases of 2-10%. Company officials said the proposed rate is still below the standard offer service rate, and said the company would still offer its default service rate to low-income customers, as required by MDTE.

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