Reliant Energy’s Shelby County, IL, peaking power plant begancommercial operation last Friday. The 340 MW natural gas-firedfacility marks Reliant’s first power generation project to be builtin Illinois. The facility, which is located about 180 miles southof Chicago, began construction in late February. The plant willoperate on its five current turbines until they are ultimatelyreplaced by eight General Electric LM 6000 natural gas turbines.The plant is expected to operate a maximum of four months duringthe summer each year.

FERC last week approved the $5.3 billion marriage of CarolinaPower & Light Co. and Florida Progress Corp., parent of FloridaPower. The combined company would be worth about $17 billion andserve 2.7 million customers, nearly 200,000 of them gas. It alsowould be the nation’s ninth largest energy utility based ongenerating capacity of more than 18,500 MW.

AltaGas Services Inc. acquired natural gas gathering andprocessing facilities assets from TransCanada for $14.6 million.The assets acquired include working interests of 65% in theParkland gas plant, 70% in the Mosquito Creek gas plant, and 5% inthe Vulcan gas plant. These facilities have current grossthroughput of 27 MMcf/d, 32 MMcf/d and 43 MMcf/d respectively. TheParkland and Mosquito Creek sweet gas plants are interconnectedthrough some 44 miles of gathering lines. Located near the town ofNanton in southern Alberta, this gathering and processing systemrepresents a new operating area for AltaGas. The area hassubstantial upside potential from 12 underdeveloped townshipssurrounding the gathering system. AltaGas has also acquired 21miles of pipeline located adjacent to AltaGas’ Bonnie Glenoperating area. The pipeline will be integrated with the threeAltaGas gas plants in the area and provides capacity for futuregrowth. The pipeline will have the ability to deliver gas to theTransCanada and ATCO systems. TransCanada also entered into anagreement to sell its west office tower in downtown Calgary lastweek to a group of private investors for $70 million. The sale isexpected to close by the end of this July. The pipeline’s $3billion divestiture program continues.

Dominion Resources said its second quarter earnings are expectedto meet or slightly exceed analyst expectations. Second-quarteroperating earnings will exclude one-time CNG merger-related chargesfor severances and one-time, non-cash charges related to andarising from the planned divestiture of Dominion Capital. Earningsin 2001 are expected to exceed current analyst consensus estimatesand previously issued company guidance. Analysts expect Dominion topost earnings of 52 cents a share in the second quarter and $3.56 ashare in 2001, according to market research firm First Call/ThomsonFinancial. A year ago, the company posted second-quarter profits of$117.4 million, or 61 cents a share. The improved outlook is drivenprimarily by higher commodity prices and other positive factors,partially offset by higher interest expense.

Bangor Hydro Electric completed the sale of its interest inBangor Gas Company, LLC. to its partner in the venture. BangorHydro owned a 50% interest in Bangor Gas, a joint venture with asubsidiary of Sempra Energy. Sempra, through other subsidiaries, isthe largest operator of gas distribution systems in the U.S. InNovember 1999, Bangor Hydro announced its intention to sell itsinterest in Bangor Gas in order to focus on its core business as aregulated electric transmission and distribution utility. Sincethat time all regulatory approvals have been achieved. Bangor Hydroand Sempra formed Bangor Gas in 1997 to develop a natural gasdistribution system in Bangor and neighboring communities. Gasservice in the Bangor area has become feasible for the first timebecause of development of the Maritimes and Northeast PipelineProject, which will tap gas fields off the coast of Nova Scotia andinterconnect with another pipeline in Massachusetts. Bangor Hydrorecently announced an agreement to merge with NS Power Holdings.

Entergy expects second quarter 2000 operational earnings to besignificantly higher than the same period last year and 25% to 30%higher than First Call’s second quarter consensus earnings estimateof $0.75, the company said. The increase in earnings is a result ofall of Entergy’s businesses performing better this year than last.”With the exceptional performance Entergy has experienced in thefirst half of the year, we are increasing our 2000 earnings pershare estimate to a range of $2.55 to $2.65, up from our previousestimate range of $2.35 to $2.45,” said C. John Wilder, Entergy’sexecutive vice president.

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