El Paso Corp. has agreed to sell its 33.3% interest in a portion of its Australian pipeline holdings to Hastings Funds Management for $48 million. The assets include 1,180 miles of pipelines in South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. It is part of El Paso’s plan to reduce debt, net of cash, to $15 billion by year-end 2005. To date, the company has announced or closed $3 billion of the $3.3-3.9 billion in sales targeted under the plan.

Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co., a subsidiary of Cinergy Corp., has agreed to sell Lawrenceburg Gas Co. to INOH Gas Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to close in four to six months subject to federal and state regulatory approvals. Lawrenceburg Gas serves 6,000 gas customers in Lawrenceburg, IN, through a system that includes 187 miles of mains and service lines. It also sells natural gas wholesale to the city of Aurora, IN, and is interconnected to the interstate gas transmission lines of Texas Gas Transmission Corp. and Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. CG&E acquired Lawrenceburg Gas in 1964. “CG&E’s decision to sell Lawrenceburg Gas is based on its relatively small size and the fact that it is our only gas property in Indiana,” said Patty Walker, vice president of gas operations. “Also, since it is not physically interconnected to the remainder of our gas distribution system, it is considered to be a non-strategic asset. This sale allows Cinergy to focus its attention on its core electric business in Indiana and gas and electric operations in Ohio and Kentucky.” Greendale, IN-based INOH is a privately held Indiana corporation.

CMS Energy and its partners closed on the sale of the 2,000 MW Loy Yang power plant and adjacent coal mine in Australia for about AU$3.5 billion (US$2.6 billion), including AU$145 million for the project equity. CMS Energy owned 49.6% of the Loy Yang project. NRG Energy Inc. and Horizon Energy Australia Investments each owned about 25%. CMS Energy’s share of the proceeds was about AU$71 million (US$54 million), subject to closing adjustments and transaction costs. CMS Energy estimates that it will recognize an $80 million after-tax loss in the first quarter, smaller than previous guidance, primarily related to prior currency translation adjustments. Ongoing earnings are not impacted by the sale. The power plant and coal mine were sold to the Great Energy Alliance Corp. (GEAC), formed in 2003 by the Australian Gas Light Co., the Tokyo Electric Power Co., and a group of financial investors led by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The coal-fired plant is the largest generator in Victoria, Australia, accounting for about 24% of the state’s electricity generation.

A steering committee representing 66 cities in West Texas has recommended that the cities approve an overall increase of $3.2 million for Atmos Energy‘s natural gas utility operations. Atmos filed for its last rate increase in 1999 under its former operating name Energas Co. The steering committee also approved a Weather Normalization Adjustment Rider for residential, commercial, public-authority and state-institution customers. The rider provides for restructured gas rates to reduce variability in gas bills during the heating season. The average increase for all customer classes in the 66 cities is about 2.93%, according to Atmos. The monthly increase for an average residential customer will be $1.23. The rate changes take effect in May.

Michigan Public Service Commission Chair J. Peter Lark, with the support of his fellow Commissioners, Monday announced a reorganization adding a Regulated Energy Division to the MPSC. The new division will bring together all the functions related to regulating electric and natural gas utilities, including an accounting and auditing section, a rates and tariff section; an Act 304 (the law governing recovery of natural gas costs and the cost of fuel for purchased power) and sales forecasting section; and a financial analysis section dealing with rates of return.”This reorganization locates all the functions involved in the regulation of utility rates within one division,” said Lark. The reorganization announced today brings the number of divisions within the MPSC to six. The other divisions are: Regulatory Affairs; Customer Support and Motor Carrier; Engineering and Service Quality; Competitive Energy Division; and Telecommunications. Lark added the reorganization does not reduce employment levels at the MPSC and that several new positions will be added to deal with increased work load.

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