Decision

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld two orders inwhich FERC denied a small-customer discount transportation rate toNephi, UT, a municipal distribution customer on Questar Pipeline.

TECO Energy’s Peoples Gas unit is cutting up to 240 jobs due toits decision to discontinue the gas piping, appliance installationand repair business effective July 15.

KN Energy made a decision to discontinue its mc2 retail energymarketing unit, which was acquired when KN purchased MidCon Corp.earlier this year. KN said mc2’s business strategy clashed withthat of KN Services and en-able, KN’s retail energy marketing andservices joint venture with PacifiCorp.

Natural Gas Clearinghouse’s (NGC) decision earlier this month topost 40% of its San Juan-to-California capacity on El Paso NaturalGas for release appeared “at first blush” to be a “magnanimousgesture” on the marketer’s part, but it was far from that, said anenergy consultant.

Energy Pacific launched a new energy service called Power ChoiceCalifornia, which will help companies make electricity buyingdecisions in a restructured marketplace. The company launched theservice through a pilot with Hewlett-Packard earlier this year andwill begin marketing the service in April. “We’re finding that manycustomers just don’t know where to begin when asking energyproviders for price quotes, or even what their energy options are,”said Eric Nelson, president of Energy Pacific, an unregulated jointventure of Pacific Enterprises and Enova Corp.

While some see FERC’s decision in the Granite State GasTransmission case last week as a major shift in its certificatepolicy, others believe the Commission’s dismissal of Texas EasternTransmission’s (Tetco) application to expand the capacity of itsLebanon Lateral reaffirmed that very policy.