Delayed

The odds of Congress passing electric restructuring legislationduring this session were reduced to next to nothing as the HouseCommerce Committee — which has been beset by infighting —postponed the long-awaited mark-up that was scheduled for lastweek. The committee could give “no firm date” for when it would berescheduled.

The odds of Congress passing electricity restructuringlegislation in this session were reduced to next to nothing as theHouse Commerce Committee—which has been beset by infighting—postponed the long-awaited mark-up that was scheduled for today.

Tennessee delayed pigging operations on the Blue Water System,originally scheduled for Monday and today (see Daily GPI, March 6), tentatively until Thursday andFriday of this week. No service restrictions are expected, butproducers may experience higher than normal pressures.

Dynegy Inc. announced earlier this week that the date of itsproposed merger with Illinova Corp. has been temporarily postponedbecause certain power plant sales to El Paso Energy will takelonger to close than expected. The company had planned on finishingthe merger Jan. 4. Now, Dynegy is pushing back its projected dateof close until later in the month.

While the new Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline is ready toflow, with government approvals on both sides of the border, itwill be sometime later in the month before Sable Island wells areoperational, according to a spokeswoman for the new Nova Scotia toNew England pipeline.

With Peachtree’s 170,000 customers hanging in the balance, anAtlanta, GA, bankruptcy court deferred a ruling on the strugglingmarketer’s attempted customer sale until today. According tosources close to the situation, the delay was caused by ScanaEnergy Marketing, which asked for more time so that it could file abid for Peachtree’s customers.

“Following the screen” obviously didn’t apply Tuesday as thecash market’s mostly flat performance was a far cry from the8.1-cent drop in the Henry Hub futures contract for June. But, as aGulf Coast trader noted, a substantial portion of the screensoftness occurred after cash had finished trading for the day, andto him that means it’s a safe bet to expect a decline in cashprices today.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) has delayed the startdate for retail gas unbundling in the state from Oct. 1, 1999 toJune 1, 2001. Retail unbundling affects gas utilities serving morethan 25,000 customers. The commission order delaying unbundlingalso allows groups wanting to propose competitive purchase programsat earlier dates to submit their proposals for commissionconsideration.

A Canadian-backed merchant underground storage operator hasraised a red flag in California’s ongoing, but delayed, natural gasrestructuring proceedings by questioning how new energy marketplayers can compete with, but be dependent on, the state’s majorinvestor-owned utilities.