Charge

After nailing two weeks ago in his forecast that New England would receive a large arctic push last week (see Daily GPI, Jan. 7), Joe Bastardi, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com, said Tuesday that the region is not out of the woods yet.

The waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding Nicor Energy LLC is over as rumors of fraudulent accounting, which have been swirling since last year, have turned into suits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

The waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding Nicor Energy LLC is over as rumors of fraudulent accounting that have been swirling since last year have turned into suits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Marking the latest in a series of similar settlements recently reached between power companies and FERC staff, Idaho Power Co. has agreed to pay $83,373 under a proposed agreement filed with FERC trial staff on Thursday. The deal is aimed at resolving allegations that Idaho Power attempted to manipulate the California energy market in 2000-2001.

Three criminal charges against an ex-Dynegy Corp. natural gas trader and one criminal charge against a former El Paso Merchant Energy executive were thrown out last week by a district judge in Houston who ruled that the charges, which all related to reporting false natural gas price information to an industry publication, were too broad.

If you can’t beat them, join them. After watching prices bubble higher last week, commercial and fund traders jumped in on the buy-side Monday to drive the natural gas futures market to new two-month highs.

TXU Corp. will write off $4.241 billion in obligations against failing subsidiary TXU Europe LLC, according to a pro forma financial filing 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The adjustments for the fourth quarter will include “anticipated obligations” to pull out of Europe, which totals about $3.611 billion to write off the European investment.

DTE Energy Co. reported a 39% increase in fourth quarter earnings per share, including special items, but a 33% drop in earnings per share for the year, including $1.13/share special charge related to its merger with MCN Energy. Operating earnings for the year before special charges were $536 million, or $3.48 per diluted share, compared to $484 million, or $3.39 per diluted share. CEO Anthony F. Earley Jr. said the weak economy and mild weather in the fourth quarter hurt both electricity and gas sales, but increased earnings growth for DTE’s non-regulated subsidiaries, coupled with targeted cost-reduction programs throughout the company, helped the company achieve attractive financial results. “Our non-regulated energy businesses had an impressive showing in 2001, contributing $162 million in net income, which exceeded our $130 million target for the year,” Earley said. “We expect these businesses to continue to build momentum in 2002.” The company got a strong performance from its coal operations, including the expansion of its synthetic fuel program and three facilities, which processed 2.3 million tons of coal. It increased profits at DTE Coal Services by 85%. The addition of MichCon’s natural gas business boosted net income in the fourth quarter. MichCon was not a part of DTE Energy operations in 2000. However, it had lower electric revenues due to lower overall sales to industrial and wholesale customers driven by the recession and the legislatively mandated rate reductions for commercial and industrial customers. It also had higher electric operation and maintenance expenses. Earley said that DTE Energy’s business plans continue to support an increase in its compound annual earnings growth rate from 6-8% by 2005. However, growth this year largely will depend on the pace of economic recovery, the impact of weather on gas sales in the first quarter and how many customers are lost to alternative electric and gas suppliers, he added. “With these uncertainties in mind, DTE Energy is providing an earnings guidance range for 2002 of $3.70 to $4 per share,” he said. “Our previously issued 2002 guidance of $4 per share will be a stretch, but is still within reach. Our non-regulated businesses, especially the coal-based fuels segment, are well-positioned for increased earnings growth next year.”

The past came back to haunt Houston-based EOG Resources Inc. in the fourth quarter, after it was snagged with a $19.2 million charge related to former parent Enron Corp. EOG reported a net loss of $27.6 million, or 24 cents a share, compared with net income of $158.7 million, or $1.33 a share, for the fourth quarter of 2000. The charges related just to Enron cost EOG 11 cents a share, estimated at $12.3 million after taxes.