Deregulated

Austin, TX-based Green Mountain Energy has received aninvestment of $53.5 million to fund its growth in marketing cleanerenergy sources in deregulated markets in the United States. Oddlyenough, the investment will come overseas from Nuon, the largestutility in the Netherlands and a leading provider of green energyin Europe.

Alleging the law that created the framework for a deregulatedelectric market in Nevada will be detrimental and unfair to theirstockholders and their customers, Nevada Power and Sierra PacificPower filed in federal court last week to have the law declaredunconstitutional.

Alleging the law that created the framework for a deregulatedelectric market in Nevada will be detrimental and unfair to theirstockholders and their customers, Nevada Power and Sierra PacificPower filed in federal court yesterday to have the law declaredunconstitutional.

Sparked by demand to simplify the billing procedures in itsderegulated electricity and gas industries, the New York StatePublic Service Commission (NYPSC) approved a recommendationyesterday allowing customers who choose an alternative supplier theoption to receive a single, combined bill for each utility service.

The maelstrom in Atlanta Gas Light’s deregulated gas poolcontinued last week as regulators scrambled to find a replacementsupplier of last resort when the utility concluded it was unable tohandle the role. After an urgent 24-hour RFP, the state’s PublicService Commission (GPSC) selected Shell Energy Services to performthe function through April 1.

As the date of random assignment draws near in Georgia’sderegulated gas market, Georgia Natural Gas Services (GNGS) iscatching up to Scana Corp. in terms of statewide market share. Dueto its success in the race for Georgia gas customers, GNGSannounced last Monday it will open a new call center in Cobb Countyto help answer newly-acquired customers’ questions. The Atlanta GasLight (AGL) affiliate has won over one-third of the 839,000 totalswitches, second only to Scana Corp.’s 38% market share.

Despite bullish prospects two years ago with the advent ofderegulated energy markets, California independent gas producers atthe start of 1999 are still struggling against depressed prices,slow developing electric and gas restructurings and a hard core ofthree major investor-owned utilities that have proven to beformidable competitors. One independent producer, Tri-Valley Corp.,in Bakersfield still expects to ride out continuing years of redink until real gas/electric competition and increased oil/gasprices eventually make current projects profitable in the long run.

A battle over the role of municipal utilities in a deregulatedenergy market apparently stands in the way of final approval ofcomprehensive energy deregulation legislation in New Jersey.Tuesday, the state senate approved the bill, S5, containing anenergy deregulation package that would force the state’s gasindustry to allow supply competition statewide starting Dec. 31,and statewide electric generation competition starting August 1.The senate passed the bill by a margin of 28 to seven with threeabstentions and two senators not present. The bill then made itsway to the general assembly where, late Tuesday night, thelegislators amended it and sent it back to the senate.

In yet another instance where bigger is believed to be better inthe deregulated energy marketplace, Boston Edison parent BEC Energyand Cambridge, MA-based gas and power holding company CommonwealthEnergy System plan to merge in a cash and stock deal. Thetransaction also represents the acquisition of gas assets byelectric BEC.