Bandwagon

Utility stocks have been heating up in recent weeks, and MerrillLynch is jumping on the bandwagon with a proposal to invest up to$1 billion in a new trading vehicle, Utilities Holdrs (UTH), madeup of the stocks of 20 utility companies.

The proliferation of energy trading Internet sites continuedlast week with Dynegy and Williams teaming up to invest $25 millioneach for a minority equity stake in eSpeed Inc., an interactiveelectronic marketplace engine for business-to-business (B2B)e-commerce. It’s another sign the energy industry’s migration toe-commerce is speeding toward an eventual shake-out. Right now,players are beginning to place their bets on who the winners maybe.

As if there weren’t enough sites to click on already, energybuyers will be getting yet another deal-making space on theInternet. Dynegy and Williams agreed to invest $25 million each fora minority equity stake in eSpeed Inc., an interactive electronicmarketplace engine for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce.

The Internet e-commerce bandwagon rolled on yesterday with 15more riders. A consortium of 15 US electric and gas companies plansto launch an Internet marketplace for the energy industry and itssuppliers. The companies include American Electric Power, Cinergy,Consolidated Edison Inc., Duke Energy, Edison International,Entergy, FirstEnergy Corp., FPL Group, PG&E Corp., PublicService Enterprise Group, Reliant Energy, Sempra Energy, SouthernCompany, TXU and Unicom.

Nicor Inc. has signed on as an equal partner in the plannedHorizon Pipeline with Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Natural Gas PipelineCompany of America (NGPL), the companies said last week. Thepartners also submitted Horizon’s application to FERC.

Nicor Inc. has signed on as an equal partner in the plannedHorizon Pipeline with Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Natural Gas PipelineCompany of America (NGPL), the companies said. The partners alsosubmitted Horizon’s application to FERC this week.

As if its plate weren’t already full, “the market” received another East-bound pipeline project to “sort out” with the announcement of El Paso Energy’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline and Consolidated Natural Gas’ CNG Transmission Atlantic Alliance Project. Atlantic Alliance would transport up to 750,000 Dth/d from the Chicago market center and the Niagara Import Point in upstate New York into eastern markets.

The merger bandwagon continued Monday with the announcement of a$2 billion deal that would bring together Illinois-headquarteredIllinova Corp., which has a strong Midwest power generation baseand a developing national energy services business, withHouston-based Dynegy Inc., a leading marketer of energy productsand services. The merged company would be called Dynegy.

CMS Marketing, Services and Trading (CMS-MST), has jumped on thebandwagon of offering municipal customers prepaid gas supply totake advantage of low municipal bond interest rates.