Bang

“Not with a bang, but a whimper” the $7.5 billion lawsuit filed by TransAmerican Natural Gas against merging giants Coastal Corp. and El Paso Natural Gas, slid to a quiet grave under a sealed settlement agreement last week.

“Not with a bang, but a whimper”…the $7.5 billion lawsuitfiled by TransAmerican Natural Gas against merging giants CoastalCorp. and El Paso Natural Gas, slid to a quiet grave under a sealedsettlement agreement.

With a relative whimper, not a bang, a major rate case forPacific Gas and Electric Co. ended last Thursday with Californiaregulators on a 3-2 vote giving the utility about one-third of whatit originally requested. The raise still is quite large, however,at $229 million/annually, including a 6% hike in gas rates. Thehike amounts to about another $20/year for the typical residentialcustomer. Electric rates were hiked by $136 million/year, but therewill be no change in those rates because of the ongoing rate freezethat’s been in effect since 1996 as part of the state’s electricindustry restructuring.

With a relative whimper, not a bang, a major rate case forPacific Gas and Electric Co. ended last Thursday with Californiaregulators on a 3-2 vote giving the utility about one-third what itoriginally requested. The raise still is quite large, however, at$229 million/annually, including a 6% hike in gas rates. The hikeamounts to about another $20/year for the typical residentialcustomer. Electric rates were hiked by $136 million/year, but therewill be no change in those rates because of the ongoing rate freezethat’s been in effect since 1996 as part of the state’s electricindustry restructuring.

PG&E Energy Services kicked off the new year with a bangyesterday by announcing it inked a major deal with Equity OfficeProperties Trust, the largest publicly held owner and manager ofoffice properties in the nation, to supply electricity to itsoffice buildings in northern California.