Bankrupt

Marce Fuller, CEO of Atlanta-based Mirant Corp., is resigning from the bankrupt energy supplier in exchange for $3.4 million in severance pay plus a promised 2004 short-term incentive payment of $850,000, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The agreement calls for Fuller to work as a consultant on Mirant’s bankruptcy case after she leaves.

FERC last week ordered bankrupt Enron Corp. to pay penalties of $1,000 per day for failing to turn over evidence to a public utility in Washington State as part of an agency proceeding exploring the company’s exploitation of West Coast energy markets in 2000-2001.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said he plans to file a lawsuit against bankrupt Houston-based Enron Corp. for alleged wholesale energy market gaming strategies in 2000-2001. This would be the state’s first specific lawsuit targeted only at Enron coming out of the wholesale energy market meltdown of three years ago.

Bankrupt NorthWestern Energy said Tuesday its Montana utility operations expect wholesale natural gas prices to remain in the $5-6/Dth range, but it expects retail rates to drop about 3% because of an accounting change in how deferred gas cost amortization is handled. NorthWestern’s filing with state regulators assumes that its natural gas supply costs in July will average $5.93/Dth, which the company said was unchanged from its previously filed June rate.

Bankrupt Mirant Corp. on Friday said that it has reached a settlement with FERC staff related to the sale of ancillary services in California. Mirant settled for $3.66 million, which the company said is a fraction of the approximately $28 million alleged by the California parties in the original claim made against the company.

One of bankrupt Enron Corp.’s federal examiners criticized Bank of America Corp., Royal Bank of Canada, KPMG LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in yet another report on the corrupt company.

In compliance with a Nov. 7 order, Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline is seeking to replace its existing two-part firm with one-part volumetric service and institute a new interruptible service on its New England Manchester Street and Brayton Point pipe facilities in an attempt to recoup lost revenues stemming from the bankruptcy of a key customer, USGen New England Inc.

In compliance with a Nov. 7 order, Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline is seeking to replace its existing two-part firm with one-part volumetric service and institute a new interruptible service on its Boston-area Manchester Street and Brayton Point pipe facilities in an attempt to recoup lost revenues stemming from the bankruptcy of the parent company of a key customer, USGen New England Inc.

All and all, it has been a good month for PG&E Corp. and its bankrupt utility subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. They have scored successes at the California Public Utilities Commission and in federal bankruptcy court in San Francisco. Moves by the state attorney general and a federal appeals court in San Francisco did not dampen the giant utility’s outlook as it prepared for its defining moments next month.