Decided

There was decided regional divergence in Tuesday’s swing pricemovement. The Gulf Coast and Appalachia/Northeast, being the areasstill affected most by unseasonably warm weather, ranged from flatto down as much as a dime. But from the Midcontinent westward,where it actually seemed a bit winterish behind a cold frontheading east, prices were flat to a few cents higher, with theRockies, Southwest basins, California and intra-Alberta seeingincreases of about a nickel or more.

In an $88.1 million switch, California regulators last weekdecided to reallocate the bulk of Southern California Gas Co.’s$161.8 million in 1997 step-down charges paid to El Paso NaturalGas and Transwestern interstate pipelines serving southernCalifornia from the mass regulated consumers to large industrial(noncore) customers. SoCalGas maintains that the buy-out eventuallywill save its customers between $320 and $525 million.

Preparing for the potential inability of Peachtree Natural Gasto reliably supply gas, the Georgia Public Service Commission(GPSC) decided to issue an RFP yesterday for any marketer who wouldwant to be an interim pooler and accumulate some or all ofPeachtree’s 177,000 customers. The RFP is scheduled to concludetoday.

Before handing down a final decision, the Florida Public ServiceCommission decided last week it needed one last look at the detailsof a commission staff proposal that would require the state’s gasutilities to file small customer unbundling tariffs by next March.PSC commissioners requested staff schedule at least one moreworkshop during which it would present the details of the proposedunbundling rule to the commissioners.

Consolidated Natural Gas announced that Ronald L. Adams, seniorvice president, regulated business, has decided to leave thecompany effective Sept. 1, triggering an interim managementrestructuring for local gas distribution, pipelines and storageuntil the previously announced merger with Dominion Resources iscompleted. As a result, the following personnel appointments havebeen made: Jimmy D. Staton, has been appointed senior vicepresident, distribution operations; Gary L. Sypolt, has beenappointed senior vice president, pipeline operations; Paul D.Koonce, has been named senior vice president, commercialoperations; and William A. Fox has been named senior vicepresident, Virginia gas distribution.

Finding little if anything impressive in the way of newinfluences, cash prices in general decided to take it easy Monday.Other than some sizeable western increases, which consisted mainlyof regaining price territory lost on Friday, most quotes were flatto slightly higher. A moderately softer screen combined with hotweather and no sign of an Atlantic tropical storm gave the marketlittle guidance, a Midcontinent trader said. Storage activityseemed little changed from last week, he said.

Fearing the potential side effects of waivers on the interstatemarket, FERC last week decided to give Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) onlya short-term extension of its waivers to Commission regulations topreserve the “status quo” of retail gas unbundling in Georgia whileit explores other non-waiver solutions for utilities.

FERC has decided to give Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) a short-termextension of waivers to Commission regulations to preserve the”status quo” of natural gas unbundling in the state while itexplores other non-waiver options for utilities.

The screen may have decided to take a breather Monday afterflexing its muscles so impressively last week, but the heated cashmarket showed no signs of settling down. Western quotes stagedtheir by-now-familiar retaking of ground lost over the weekend, andthis time they actually shared in the general bull market by risingin greater amounts than they had fallen on the previous Friday.Eastern points, on the other hand, continued to build on the upwardtrend they had seen all of last week.