Southern California Gas Co. said it is launching an informationcampaign this week to raise awareness of high natural gas prices.The campaign will include ads in major local newspapers and onradio stations, inserts in gas bills and direct mailings to alertcustomers to higher gas prices, explain the reasons for theincreases and outline their options to take greater control oftheir gas bills. SoCalGas is projecting that a monthly natural gaswinter bill for a typical residential customer will increase about$20, to $70 from $50. The company noted that unusually high demandthis summer has resulted in lower-than-expected gas storage levelsnationwide. This summer’s peak usage of natural gas on SoCal’ssystem for the first time exceeded the previous winter’s peak.SoCalGas is the nation’s largest gas distribution utility serving18 million consumers through 5 million meters. The company’sservice territory encompasses 23,000 square miles throughoutcentral and Southern California.

The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. (MISO)has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for an independent third-partymarket monitor to watch over the energy and capacity markets,generation market power indices, energy imbalance markets andcongestion management mechanisms. The monitor also will collect dataand analyze markets for potential indicators of market power such aswithholding capacity or bidding anomalies. “Using a third-party entitywill ensure all participants that the markets the Midwest ISO operatesin are analyzed consistently, fairly and without prejudice,” saidMatthew C. Cordaro, president and CEO of the Midwest ISO. It will workwith the Midwest ISO staff, the transmission owners, suppliers ofgeneration, federal and state regulators, and a broad range of marketparticipants, consumer interest groups and environmentalists. TheMidwest ISO’s market monitor must demonstrate the followingcharacteristics: independence, objectivity, non-discriminatorymonitoring and the ability to collect proprietary data withoutcompromising confidentiality. Proposals must be submitted to theMidwest ISO no later than Nov. 15. The Midwest ISO will announce itstop candidates in mid-December with selection, subject to boardapproval, made by mid-January. A copy of the RFP is available at www.midwestiso.org

The sale of its fossil-fuel plants and subsequent power purchaseagreements along with merger related severance charges took a 41%chunk out of Unicom’s earnings. Unicom reported third quarter netincome of $164 million after special items, which was down from$280 million during the same period last year. The company reportedearnings of $0.93/share, including a $0.12/share charge formerger-related costs, principally employee severance costs.Excluding the one-time charges, operating earnings were $1.05/sharecompared to $1.36/share in the same period last year. Unicomannounced its $32 billion merger of equals with Peco Energy lastSeptember. In December, subsidiary Commonwealth Edison completed a$4.8 billion sale of its fossil generating stations to MidwestGeneration, a subsidiary of Edison International. It’s nuclearfleet put in a solid quarter, achieving its goal of “All 10 AllSummer” by operating at a 95% capacity factor. The availability oflow cost nuclear generation led to a 59% increase in wholesalekilowatt-hour sales. However, revenues from sales to ComEd’s retailcustomers declined by $103 million during the quarter. Coolingdegree-days were 18% below the comparable quarter in 1999. Earningsalso were adversely affected by increased regulatory assetamortization recorded in accordance with the earnings provisions ofthe Illinois Public Utilities Act, and increased operation andmaintenance expenses resulting in part from ComEd’s transmissionand distribution system improvement initiatives.

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