Creating

Unrelenting in their goal of creating a new statewide public power utility in Montana, five cities last week agreed to offer $2 billion, including assumption of $825 million in debt, to purchase the electricity transmission and distribution assets of South Dakota-based NorthWestern Corp, including facilities in the two other states in which it operates — Nebraska and South Dakota.

Backing off earlier proposals to include the California Public Utilities Commission, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday submitted a modified proposal for creating a state energy department with a cabinet-level energy secretary. The department will be centered on a revised state energy commission consolidated with several other energy units — the Electricity Oversight Board and the basically inactive state Consumer Conservation Financing and Power Authority.

In a state that has given energy-saving programs priority over both alternative and traditional forms of creating energy, California regulators Thursday approved a new approach to utility energy efficiency programs by establishing policies, processes and an administrative framework to guide future programs. The state expects future programs to provide almost 60% of the incremental energy supplies of the state’s major private sector utilities over the next 10 years.

In a state that has given energy-saving programs priority over both alternative and traditional forms of creating energy, California regulators Thursday approved a new approach to utility energy efficiency programs by establishing policies, processes and an administrative framework to guide future programs. The state expects future programs to provide almost 60% of the incremental energy supplies of the state’s major private sector utilities over the next 10 years.

The growing variability in the composition of natural gas delivered to American consumers is creating a number of new operational, reliability and safety concerns, but a coalition of industry representatives told FERC last week that substantial research remains to be done before recommendations can be made on how to deal with the problem.

The growing variability in the composition of natural gas delivered to American consumers is creating a number of new operational, reliability and safety concerns, according to a presentation made Wednesday at FERC’s regular meeting by a broad coalition of industry trade associations, research organizations and other stakeholders.

Re-creating the natural gas market through direct producer-consumer connections is going to be difficult for both sides, as they incorporate into their planning the functions once performed by the middle-man trading sector. In addition to price, the term and the credit arrangements tied to a supply contract are key factors a gas buyer needs to consider when negotiating, according to representatives of industrials and local distribution companies (LDCs) who spoke Wednesday at the LDC Forum in Chicago sponsored by Interchange Energy.

Re-creating the natural gas market through direct producer-consumer connections is going to be difficult for both sides, as they incorporate into their planning the functions once performed by the middle-man trading sector. In addition to price, the term and the credit arrangements tied to a supply contract are key factors a gas buyer needs to consider when negotiating, according to representatives of industrials and LDCs who spoke Wednesday at the LDC Forum in Chicago sponsored by Interchange Energy.

After creating a pretty good scare for Gulf of Mexico producers at the end of last week, Tropical Storm Erika remained just that, a tropical storm, failing to reach hurricane status as it made landfall Saturday approximately 30 miles south of Brownsville, TX on the edge of the Mexican border city of Matamoros.