Cpuc

California chief utility regulator Michael Peevey signaled Thursday that he will attempt to have the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) investigate the status of executive compensation at the state’s major private-sector utilities, which are all among the nation’s largest.

Sempra Energy’s two California utilities last Tuesday informed the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that they will be jointly filing a 2008 test year general rate case by Dec. 1, seeking a decision from regulators by the end of next year. Senior executives from the company downplayed the potential earnings impact of the case on a second-quarter conference call with financial analysts Thursday, stressing continued strong earnings from the utilities.

Pipeline representative Donald Santa told FERC Thursday that pipeline shippers will have to prepare for the possibility that higher penalties may have to be used by pipeline companies to discourage customers from using gas that isn’t theirs this winter. He also said pipeline companies are going to have to work more closely with customers to find solutions to the problem of liquids in the gas stream because of the 16 processing plants that remain out of service.

In the midst of a concerted public relations/lobbying blitz by their cornered regulatory prey, El Paso Corp., lawyers who have built the case for alleged market power abuses by the Houston-based gas pipeline giant are unabashedly confident that they will get a favorable decision from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by the end of this year.

Consumer advocates are expected to be out in force for a series of public hearings scheduled by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on a substantial rate increase request by Las-Vegas, NV-based Southwest Gas Corp.

California regulators, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison have rallied in support of the FERC enforcement’s request for a separate investigation into whether El Paso Natural Gas withheld interruptible transportation (IT) service last winter to drive up natural gas prices in Southern California.

California regulators, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison have rallied in support of the FERC enforcement’s request for a separate investigation into whether El Paso Natural Gas withheld interruptible transportation (IT) service last winter to drive up natural gas prices in Southern California.

The head of the California Public Utilities Commission, Loretta Lynch, last week blasted the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. proposed bankruptcy reorganization plan as a “regulatory jailbreak” in which the utility is attempting to complete a failed deregulation plan that was blocked earlier by regulators and legislators. She encouraged the bankruptcy court judge to reject the proposal.

After months of planning and market tests for a proposed expansion of its gas storage facility in Butte County, CA, Wild Goose Storage Inc., a subsidiary of Alberta Energy Co. Ltd., filed an application with the California Public Utilities Commission last week to double the field’s size and triple the withdrawal capacity.