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Consumers and utilities continued to butt heads in CaliforniaTuesday over how to deal with almost $5 billion in uncollectedrevenues by the state’s three major investor-owned electricutilities in the wake of this summer’s wholesale electricity pricespikes.

UGI Corp. announced Friday that its energy marketing subsidiaryhas agreed to acquire almost all of Conectiv’s commercial andindustrial marketing business. The acquisition by UGI EnergyServices is expected to be completed on Oct. 1.

The first of the marketers to bow out of natural gas deregulation in Georgia is going on the offensive almost a year after the company filed for bankruptcy. Peachtree Natural Gas which is still in bankruptcy court, filed a $50 million suit against AGL Resources, Atlanta Gas Light and billing provider Utilipro in the State Court of Fulton County.

The first of the marketers to bow out of the natural gasderegulation era in Georgia is going on the offensive almost a yearafter the company filed for bankruptcy. Peachtree Natural Gas whichis still in bankruptcy court, filed a $50 million suit against AGLResources, Atlanta Gas Light and billing provider Utilipro in theState Court of Fulton County.

Almost a year after Plains Resources and its subsidiary, PlainsAll American Pipeline L.P., were allegedly involved in”unauthorized trading,” the companies announced yesterday that theyhave reached an agreement in principle for the settlement of twoclass action securities suits. The companies have agreed to payaffected shareholders a total of $29.5 million plus interest forthe unauthorized trading loss disclosed in November 1999.

PG&E Corp. moved another step closer to full approval of its proposed natural gas-fired 1,040 MW natural gas-fired plant to be located in Maricopa County, AZ. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a special use permit for the pending electric generation facility to be positioned near Phoenix.

In almost an exact blueprint of Friday’s topsy-turvy session,natural gas futures spiked then retraced yesterday as tradersdigested the latest weather news. After gapping higher at the openand putting in a fresh one-month high at $4.43, the Septembercontract succumbed to profit-taking which ushered the prompt monthlower at the close. September finished at $4.348, up 5.2 cents forthe session, but just a fraction of a cent above its low on theday.

This week’s price slide almost, but not quite, came to a haltWednesday. Some points were flat and a few managed small upticks,but those were outweighed by small declines that only rarelysurpassed a nickel.

Pardon the cash market if it was getting that old sensation ofdeja vu Wednesday. In an almost exact repeat of a week earlier,prices were rising somewhere in the vicinity of a dime in mostcases; but once again the screen took a dive following theafternoon storage report, prompting sources to predict today’strading will emulate the double-digit declines of last Thursday.