Affiliated

FERC Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) H. Peter Young has ordered several Enron-affiliated wind farm projects and Southern California Edison Co. to file a status report by the end of next week on their efforts to complete a settlement that would resolve assertions made by Edison that the projects failed to comply with the Commission’s regulations for qualifying facility (QF) status.

Affiliated pipelines Texas Eastern and Algonquin removed all remaining transportation restrictions Tuesday.

Armed with “preliminary evidence” of manipulation of prices for short-term electric and natural gas markets in western markets, FERC launched formal investigations last week into the potentially illegal pricing activities of three Enron Corp. affiliates — Portland General Electric, Enron Power Marketing and Enron Capital and Trade Resources Corp. — and El Paso Electric, Avista Corp. and marketing affiliate Avista Energy to determine the extent of any wrongdoing and the type of disciplinary actions warranted.

As its affiliated utility works to restore an investment-grade credit rating, Edison International’s merchant energy operator, Edison Mission Energy (EME), was moving in reverse last week, attracting a below-investment-grade credit downgrade from Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Wednesday on the heels of Tuesday’s second-quarter report of a loss for its power plant operations. Ironically, uncertainty regarding the California Public Utilities Commission’s future oversight of the Edison utility was cited as a prime reason for the downgrade.

Atlanta-based Southern Co. said Friday it closed on a deal to buy the Georgia customers, operations and gas inventory of Enron-affiliated NewPower Holdings Inc. for an estimated $60 million (see Daily GPI, June 13).

Atlanta-based Southern Co. said Friday it closed on a deal to buy the Georgia customers, operations and gas inventory of Enron-affiliated NewPower Holdings Inc. for an estimated $60 million (see Daily GPI, June 13).

Affiliated pipelines Texas Eastern and Algonquin notified shippersTuesday evening that OFOs (or a Critical System Warning in Algonquin’scase) similar to those canceled Monday (see Daily GPI, Jan. 25) would go into effect later thatnight. As before, the OFOs require uniform hourly deliveries in themarket area and carry other restrictions such as no acceptance ofdue-shipper imbalance nominations. Effective today Algonquin isallowing only Primary Firm services through its Cromwell (CT)Compressor Station.

A large negotiated rate contract between Northern Natural andits affiliated Enron North America Corp. made it through FERC lastweek, but not without a promise of further regulatory scrutiny.FERC accepted the deal, which covers about one-third of Northern’sfirm space, on the condition that the pipeline submit a detailedexplanation of how the various pricing options work. The follow-upreview is based largely on a protest filed by Northern shipper GPMGas.

A large negotiated rate contract between Northern Natural andits affiliated Enron North America Corp. made it through FERCyesterday, but not without a promise of further regulatoryscrutiny. FERC accepted the deal, which covers about one-third ofNorthern’s firm space, on the condition that the pipeline submit adetailed explanation of how the various pricing options work. Thefollow-up review is based largely on a protest filed by Northernshipper GPM Gas.