California

Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas extendedhigh-linepack OFOs that had begun Saturday (see Daily GPI, June 5)through Sunday, but neither order was in effect Monday.

Under terms of a deal already announced, Southern CaliforniaEdison last week continued shopping its interests in nuclear andcoal-fired generating plants in the Southwest. In play are 1,300MWs for which Edison already has an offer of $550 millioncollectively from Arizona-based Pinnacle West Energy Corp.

Under terms of a deal already announced, Southern CaliforniaEdison last week continued shopping its interests in nuclear andcoal-fired generating plants in the Southwest. In play are 1,300MWs for which Edison already has an offer of $550 millioncollectively from Arizona-based Pinnacle West Energy Corp.

Due to high linepack, Southern California Gas issued anOvernominations Day notice for Saturday.

Excelergy, a software solutions company that is currentlyinvolved in projects with Altra, Southern California Gas Co. andEastern Enterprises, announced yesterday that it plans to gopublic. The Boston-based company filed its registration statementwith the SEC last week. All of the company’s shares are beingtendered for sale, Excelergy said. It intends to use the netproceeds for general corporate purposes including working capitaland potential acquisitions. The company specializes in billing andcustomer information software applications. Current products on themarket include the ABP 3000 customer relationship management andbilling software, the eXACT family of business-to-businesstransaction management solutions and the e-Choice NetInternet-based consumer choice solution. When available, copies ofthe preliminary prospectus may be obtained by the IPO’sunderwriter, Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.

A $9.5 million deep-drilling project in California’s oil-gassaturated south San Joaquin Valley, dubbed Project Ekho, began itsfirst test drilling Monday at a site 40 miles northwest ofBakersfield, shooting for a depth of 19,500 feet where itsindependent backers calculate there could be the beginning of somesubstantial new oil and gas supplies, according toBakersfield-based Tri-Valley Oil & Gas Co., operator of theproject, which has numerous Canadian backers.

The California Public Utility Commission said it will host aroundtable on energy market and infrastructure issues Jan. 25 from9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Al Bahr Shrine Auditorium 5440 Kearny MesaRoad in San Diego. The commission currently is exploring issuesrelated to energy infrastructure, including rules for electric andgas competition and policies on distributed power. Discussions atthe roundtable will cover gas and power supply and demand,reliability and market structure. CPUC President Richard Bilas andCommissioners Josiah Neeper and Carl Wood are planning to attend.The CPUC plans to bring up issues such as the following: Are gasand electric supplies available to the San Diego area adequate tomeet consumers’ needs? What is the current level of gas and powersupply reliability? What new generation or energy conservationmeasures, or combination of both may be used in the future to meetsupply needs? Will electric prices decrease, stabilize or bepredictable now that the rate freeze has ended for San Diego Gas& Electric and the utility’s transition charges are paid off?What about the other utilities? Those interested may file writtencomments by Feb. 4. A written report on the roundtable will beissued.

No sooner has El Paso Natural Gas resolved its dispute withSouthern California Edison over the 1996 capacity-turnbacksettlement than another potential threat has cropped up. Last weekthe D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals gave Williams Field ServicesGroup Inc. another bite at the apple to challenge the rates in thecontroversial settlement.

No sooner has El Paso Natural Gas resolved its dispute withSouthern California Edison over the 1996 capacity-turnbacksettlement than another potential threat has cropped up. Last weekthe D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals gave Williams Field ServicesGroup Inc. another bite at the apple to challenge the rates in thecontroversial settlement.