Becoming

Consumers are becoming more interested in buying energy,communications and other services in one-stop package deals, arecent national survey has found. However, customers expect any”bundled” products and services to be offered at a discount of atleast 5%, according to the survey. In fact, interest in specificpackages increases in direct proportion to the depth of thediscount. Overall, customers assume that combining products andservices in a package over a single brand will add value and createeconomies of scale

In a type of deal that is becoming increasingly popular amongmarketers selling to public entities, Aquila Energy has signed tosupply 91 Bcf over 12 years to municipal members of the NebraskaPublic Gas Agency (NPGA) for an advance payment of $162 million.

In a type of deal that is becoming increasingly popular amongmarketers selling to public entities, Aquila Energy has signed tosupply 91 Bcf over 12 years to municipal members of the NebraskaPublic Gas Agency for an advance payment of $162 million.

Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) has made big strides towardbecoming a more competitive pipeline system in eastern markets. Thecompany agreed last week to pay three producers $496 million tosettle all of its remaining gas purchase contracts. Shippers willbear about $396 million of the costs, which is about $100 millionless than a payment cap set in 1993 as part of a restructuringsettlement.

Texas’ power generation capacity continues to grow with two newmerchant plants, one just coming on line and one announced foroperation in 1999. California-based Calpine Corp. said its 240 MWgas-fired Pasadena 1 Power Plant began producing power for thederegulated Texas wholesale market, just in time to help meet peaksummer power demand. The plant, under construction since 1997, cameon-line three months ahead of schedule and about $21 million underbudget. The $131 million power plant is selling power under short-,mid- and long-term contracts and into the open market. Pasadena 1will generate up to 240 MW.