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Concerns about the amount of cash that Dynegy Inc. and its subsidiaries will be able to generate, and the continuing worries about the energy merchant’s ability to refinance debt obligations not due until next year, led Moody’s Investors Service to downgrade the Houston-based company’s credit ratings on Thursday. Those included in the latest cuts were parent corporation Dynegy Inc., Dynegy Holdings Inc., the primary operating subsidiary, and that of Illinois Power, its largest utility.

A moderate amount of strength in the Rockies was the major exception Wednesday to a generally mixed bag of prices. Non-Rockies numbers were mostly flat but also ranged up to about a nickel higher or lower in some cases. Transco Zone 6-NYC took the only big fall of a little more than 50 cents.

Given the amount of new generation coming online, observers of energy trading markets shouldn’t expect to see the return of volatility to those markets in the short term, a top executive with Allegheny Energy Global Markets told an audience of investment professionals attending a Deutsche Bank-sponsored electric power conference last Tuesday.

California regulators Tuesday increased the amount of natural gas and electricity eligible for lower rates, effectively giving small monthly savings to the customers of the state’s major private-sector utilities. The higher baseline levels become effective May 1, following a review of the volumes that was started last year by the state regulatory commission.

Magnum Hunter Resources Inc. has repurchased $10.5 million principal amount of its 10% senior notes due in 2007 in a private transaction, reducing the principal on the notes to $129.5 million from $140 million. The Irving, TX-based company funded the repurchase with its existing commercial bank line of credit, increased by $12.5 million to $125 million recently. With the repurchase, Magnum Hunter said it expected to achieve interest savings of about $500,000 over the next 12 months. Management had pledged to continue its focus to reduce debt and improve the balance sheet, said CEO Gary C. Evans. He said since the beginning of 2000, Magnum Hunter had improved debt-to-equity to 63% from 82%.

Displaying an unusual amount of public candor last week, the parent company CEO of near-bankrupt Southern California Edison Co., Rosemead, CA, bared his corporate soul to a Los Angeles business leaders’ forum, admitting bankruptcy for the utility is a very real possibility unless there is an eleventh-hour reprieve granted by the state legislature.

Looking to ensure that the maximum amount of qualifying facility (QF) power is available to the California energy market this summer, FERC last week ruled that when QFs in the state sell excess power or make sales to third parties under court authorization, they should be allowed to request interconnection and transmission service from utilities in California. The Commission proposed ordering California utilities to provide interconnections to state QFs under a key section of the Federal Power Act.

Looking to ensure that the maximum amount of qualifying facility (QF) power is available to the California energy market this summer, FERC this week ruled that when QFs in the state sell excess power or make sales to third parties under court authorization, they should be allowed to request interconnection and transmission service from utilities in California. The Commission proposed ordering California utilities to provide interconnections to state QFs under a key section of the Federal Power Act.

The amount of electric power generated from existing nuclear plants is likely to increase in the coming years as a result of higher capacity factors and plant uprates, according to Corbin McNeill Jr., co-CEO of Exelon Corp. But the executive also believes that there are a whole host of antiquated legislative and regulatory requirements currently facing the nuclear power industry that need to be overhauled, given the likelihood that future nuclear plants will be operating in a deregulated environment.