Chapter

South Dakota-based NorthWestern Corp. saw consolidated net income rise $55.2 million for 2005 when special items relating to its Chapter 11 filing are excluded. Gross margin growth at all four operating segments and decreased interest expense were credited.

Signaling its full return to financial health almost two years after its utility emerged from Chapter 11, PG&E Corp. is eyeing a natural gas pipeline project in conjunction with a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal along the Oregon coast. It would mark the return of the San Francisco-based utility holding company to a region it historically played a key role in as the operator of a major interstate gas pipeline from Alberta to northern California under its now disbanded National Energy Group (NEG).

By now it’s well clear to members of the natural gas industry that liquefied natural gas (LNG) is writing the next chapter in the industry’s evolution. The gas business has come a long way from the days of pipeline take-or-pay contracts and the moratorium on gas-fired power generation. It remains to be seen, though, how far “back to the future” LNG might take the industry.

Fully financially recovered 18 months after emerging from three years in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Friday filed a $682 million general rate increase request for 2007 with the California Public Utilities Commission. The bulk of the request — $481 million — is for its electric distribution utility operations, with the rest covering its natural gas distribution utility ($114 million) and electric generation ($87 million).

Touting its third quarter financial results as an indication that its post-Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization is now complete, Sioux Falls, SD-based NorthWestern Corp. Wednesday reported net income from continuing operations of $9.3 million, or 26 cents/share, compared with a loss from continuing operations of $25.2 million for the same period last year.

In another sign PG&E has fully cleared its post-Chapter 11 bankruptcy, utility officials lowered the amount of the energy recovery bonds that will be sold later this year by more than $300 million, meaning they will total about $800 million rather than the previously estimated $1.1 billion. A series of settlements of suppliers’ outstanding claims against the utility has permitted the reduction.

Now more than a year out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, what its CEO called “the new NRG Energy” Wednesday reported it was profitable in the fourth quarter and all of 2004 ($18.1 million, or 18 cents/diluted share for the fourth quarter, and $185.6 million, or $1.85/diluted share overall in ’04), including a $60 million mark-to-market gain associated with “financial electricity sales executed during the fourth quarter.”

South Dakota-based NorthWestern Energy announced Wednesday it has cleared the last pending hurdle in its post-Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization by reaching an agreement in principle to settle all pending legal actions, appeals, claims and disputes involving the utility holding company and Magten Asset Management Corp. and Law Debenture Trust Co. of New York LLC.

South Dakota-based NorthWestern Energy announced Wednesday it has cleared the last pending hurdle in its post-Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization by reaching an agreement in principle to settle all pending legal actions, appeals, claims and disputes involving the utility holding company and Magten Asset Management Corp. and Law Debenture Trust Co. of New York LLC.