Wayne, PA-based Planalytics Inc. said last week that Missouri’s Public Service Commission (MPSC) and Office of the Public Counsel have entered into agreements to access the Planalytics Gas Buyer(SM), a financial risk management tool for purchasing and hedging natural gas. The company said the on-line tool provides buying, selling or hedging actions designed to reduce risk and take advantage of opportunities presented by weather-driven effects on gas prices for up to one year into the future.

“The Missouri Public Service Commission’s staff will be utilizing Planalytics Gas Buyer to see if it can provide us with useful information relative to natural gas buying and hedging strategies,” said Warren Wood, energy department manager for the MPSC.

Jim Busch, regulatory economist for the Office of the Public Counsel, added, “The Office of the Public Counsel will also be using Planalytics Gas Buyer to determine its usefulness in providing unbiased, third-party hedging strategies to help mitigate the price volatility in the natural gas market to protect Missouri consumers.”

Planalytics Gas Buyer is a web-delivered tool that combines long-range weather intelligence, weekly storage data, inventory change forecasts, real-time NYMEX futures contract pricing and advanced neural network technologies into an engine that determines if natural gas is overvalued or undervalued at any given time. However, the company stated that the product is not based on mathematical or statistical probabilities of weather, but rather on reliable long-range weather forecasts from a commercially proven source, Planalytics Inc.

“Now in its third year of commercial release, Planalytics Gas Buyer has been selected by numerous stakeholders in the natural gas supply chain, most recently Missouri’s Public Service Commission and Office of the Public Counsel, regulatory agencies charged with assuring that customers in the state receive the utility services they need at fair and reasonable rates,” said Frederic Fox, CEO of Planalytics.

To demonstrate its Gas Buyer, Planalytics said it will host a live webcast at 3:30 p.m. EST on Feb. 12. The 30-minute on-line presentation will provide an overview of the tool and its benefits. To register for the webcast, visit www.planalytics.com/energy.

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