Bailout

The proposed business restructuring of TransCanada Corp.’s shaky natural gas Mainline is a thinly disguised bailout of the company that will cost its customers C$3.2 billion, said an Alberta government watchdog agency (see related story).

The proposed business restructuring of TransCanada Corp.’s shaky natural gas Mainline is a thinly disguised bailout of the company that will cost its customers C$3.2 billion, said an Alberta government watchdog agency.

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown last Friday wrote congressional leaders urging that the auto industry bailout package now being hammered out include language that would authorize states to implement California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for motor vehicles. Brown has been battling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the issue for the past two years.

Uncertainty over whether the U.S. government’s $700 billion economic bailout would make it through Congress was funneled to energy markets on Friday, which pushed lower as the financial landscape remained bleak. November crude dropped $1.13 to close at $106.89/bbl, while October natural gas expired at $7.472, down 25.2 cents from Thursday’s close and 5.9 cents below the previous week’s finish.

Despite lower earnings due to a one-time charge tied to its abandoning a natural gas distribution project in Nova Scotia, San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s CEO on Thursday raised the bar for shorter and longer-term earnings growth — principally in the nonutility businesses. Sempra took a one-time, after-tax charge of $25 million, or 12 cents/diluted share, for giving up its natural gas distribution franchise in Nova Scotia.

California power watchers were hoping for results early thisweek from the marathon government-industry negotiations. Theprincipals of last Tuesday night’s marathon session were expectedto meet by video-conference over the weekend to review solutionsdeveloped by staff working groups, which met through the end of theweek. (see Daily GPI, Jan. 11)

State-backed financial bailout options for California’s twocash-strapped utilities were being looked at Friday by the statelegislature and treasurer, including public takeover of the stategrid, as Gov. Gray Davis prepared to divulge his plan today priorto making another trip to Washington, D.C., in search of a federalcap on western wholesale electricity prices later this week.

California Gov. Gray Davis over the weekend signed into law and vetoed separate measures addressing parts of the state’s ongoing electricity crisis. Davis acted on a half dozen initiatives as the deadline for enacting new state laws expired Saturday. Among the new laws are ones that will accelerate power plant siting and extend ratepayer-supported energy efficiency programs.