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Once again Tuesday the cash market tended to be stronger to theWest and weaker to the East, although neither region was a model ofconsistency. The West had a couple of flat points, while a few inthe East were flat to slightly higher.

Although the public’s overall awareness of energy deregulationhas inched up over the past three years, a majority of residentialand business customers surveyed say they still know next to nothingabout the issue and its potential effect on them, according to theresults of two major surveys issued last week.

Although the public’s overall awareness of energy deregulationhas inched up over the past three years, a majority of residentialand business customers surveyed say they still know next to nothingabout the issue and its potential effect on them, according to theresults of two major surveys issued this week.

Although the power industry has been rocked by sharp pricerun-ups this summer, average real electricity prices are projectedto drop by more than 25% by 2015 largely due to improvedefficiencies and cost reductions brought about by electricityrestructuring, the Gas Research Institute (GRI) said in a new studyissued yesterday.

Although many signs have been pointing to a major rally infutures prices lately, Wednesday’s trading at the New YorkMercantile Exchange just may put an end to that talk. Aftermanaging to rise above key resistance at $2.50, the spot Augustcontract saw major selling by funds and locals, so much so thatAugust fell to a low of $2.41 before settling the day down 1.9cents at $2.450.

Small decreases of 2-5 cents were the order of the day Tuesdayat most trading points, although a few managed to hang in there atflat levels. Moderating weather played some part, but the screen’sretreat late Monday along with another small drop Tuesday set thesofter mood, sources said.

Although it is widely believed the collapse of crude oil pricescould force many producers to cut back drilling plans this year,Unocal Corp. was the first company to formally confirm ityesterday. Unocal said it will prune its capital spending by about$250 million to $1.3 billion. According to CEO Roger C. Beach thecapital expenditure reductions will come in three areas: near-termproduction projects that are most heavily affected by lower currentcommodity prices, investments in non-oil and gas businesses, andlonger term exploration projects that could benefit from more dataevaluation. The move probably will not have a significant impact onUnocal’s natural gas production, a spokesman said, adding however,some associated gas production could become a casualty in thecutbacks. No specifics were available.

Although the most recent estimates from the Energy InformationAdministration show gas consumption so far this winter to be up1.7%, or 1.28 Bcf/d, from the same period last winter (Novemberthrough February), the warming effects of El Nino continue to put adamper on gas and energy use. Since the beginning of November,population weighted heating degree days as calculated by theNational Weather Service have averaged about 10% fewer than normaland 7.6% fewer than last winter. But since Jan. 1, there have been20% fewer heating degree days than normal (1,438 HDD compared to1,801 HDDs) and 15% fewer than last year (1,683 HDDs). Heatingdegree days are calculated by measuring the differences between themean daily temperatures in 200 cities across the U.S. and 65degrees. Every region of the country has had fewer HHDs than normalduring the months of January and February.

Although often seen as effective vehicles for achievingcompetition, pilot programs also are being used as a “delayingtactic” by some natural gas and electric utilities that aren’tbullish on the idea of bringing customer choice to their markets, amarketing official charged last week.