Closely

Following closely on Thursday’s minor futures uptick, most cashpoints on Friday barely managed double digit gains in a relativelyquiet day of trading. The Northeast and Midwest took the lead onthe plus side, but the West once again stole the show with declinesof more than $8 at the SoCal Border and more than $2 at PG&ECitygate as power demand declined for the holiday weekend.

Houston-based Altra Energy Technologies Inc. has launched a newcorporate brand, which the company said more “closely aligns” itwith its established market position. The company said its newtagline, “Market wide, Market deep,” reflects the company’s focuson complete technology solutions for the energy industry. “AtAltra, we have worked hard over the last five years to establishour position in the market,” said CEO Paul Bourke. “Now that wehave cultivated the ‘ultra’ market, we have developed a companybrand to better communicate our focus.” He said the brand positionsAltra “exactly where we need to be as we move forward.” Altra hasrenamed its suite of products, formerly known as Altrade, whichwill now be known as The Altra Energy Market. The suite of productswill include the Altra Market Place, Altra Market Tools, AltraMarket Solutions and Altra Market Services.

California’s closely watched entry into the long-term, bulkpower market turned up 39 bidders at an average 6.9 cents/kWhprice, the governor’s office reported late Wednesday, as the stategovernment finished its whirlwind 27-hour, sealed-bid powerauction.

The good news is the lights are still on in California. But WallStreet will be watching closely this week as California legislatorson one coast and the Clinton Administration on the other attempt tostop the train wreck in the California power market and rescue thetraditional “widow and orphans” investments in PG&E Corp. andEdison International from the junk pile.

The good news is the lights are still on in California. But Wall Street will be watching closely this week as California legislators on one coast and the Clinton Administration on the other attempt to stop the train wreck in the California power market and rescue the traditional “widow and orphans” investments in PG&E Corp. and Edison International from the junk pile.

Separate but closely linked California legislative proposals toprovide consumer electricity rate relief and accelerated powerplant siting/energy efficiency programs were signed into lawWednesday by Gov. Gray Davis, who used the occasion to list 11separate previous electricity-related actions he or hisadministration have taken since June 14 immediately following thefirst controlled rolling brownouts in the San Francisco Bay Areasince World War II.

Much of Monday’s swing market closely resembled that of Friday:flat to down 3-4 cents. But some points were conspicuous withsubstantially larger decreases. Since CIG and Public Service ofColorado ended price-boosting OFOs over the weekend, prices onCIG-North System and Questar fell by a little over a nickel. Thesteepest plunge by far of almost 20 cents came at CIG-DJ(Denver-Julesburg) Basin, which had soared by a similar amountlast Wednesday after PSCo declared a Restricted Delivery Daysituation.

Chairman James Hoecker announced yesterday that a FERC staffteam has been formed to closely monitor developments in theelectric market in an attempt to identify and prevent priceaberrations similar to those which occurred in the Midwest lastsummer.