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Expansion of the FERC definition of interstate pipelineaffiliate to include other subsidiaries beside marketingaffiliates, and rigorous market monitoring by the Commission,appeared to be the most popular of the solutions offered last weekby pipeline customers to level the playing field in the face of theincreasing convergence of pipeline and power companies.

Expansion of the FERC definition of interstate pipelineaffiliate to include other subsidiaries beside marketingaffiliates, and rigorous market monitoring by the Commission,appeared to be the most popular of the solutions offered lastThursday to level the playing field in the face of the increasingconvergence of pipeline and power companies.

Northeast Utilities and Consolidated Edison ran from the altarto the courtroom last week. Their $3.8 billion marriage (excludingassumption of $3.9 billion in NU debt) has been called off and thecompanies now are waging a legal battle over which one of themviolated the agreement.

“We could call it ‘the blizzard that wasn’t,'” jested a marketerin reference to the Nor’easter that had been billed as the firstbig winter storm of the year in the Northeast but turned out to berelatively benign after all. It and other market factors werelosing their price-boosting punch Tuesday, with the result thatnearly all points ranged from flat to about 20 cents lower. Thestandout exception to the general market was a Southern Californiaborder plunge of more than $5.

Northeast Utilities and Consolidated Edison ran from the altarto the courtroom this week. Their $3.8 billion marriage (excludingassumption of $3.9 billion in NU debt) is off and the companies noware waging a legal battle over which one of them violated theiragreement.

In a frenetic trading session that had even the most seasonedtraders on their toes, gas futures gapped higher on the open onlyto crumble lower in two distinct selling waves yesterday. Incontrast to Wednesday session that saw almost uniform increases,Thursday’s price action for the 12-month strip was inconsistent,with losses in the out months outpacing the 7.7-cent declineregistered in the prompt month. The March contract finished at$6.158.

California’s governor late Friday confirmed that the latestplans call for the state to demand the equivalent of stock optionsin its two largest investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas andElectric and Southern California Edison, in return for the state’sproposed plan to spend billions of dollars in the next few monthsto help the two utilities avoid bankruptcy and to bring order toCalifornia’s increasingly chaotic energy markets, some of which hasbeen caused directly by the negative cash flow plaguing bothcompanies.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is preparing legislation that wouldcall for a price cap to be imposed on wholesale electricitytransactions in the western region during emergency situations, anaide to the senator said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is preparing legislation that wouldcall for a price cap to be imposed on wholesale electricitytransactions in the western region during emergency situations, anaide to the senator said.