Deregulating

Setting itself up to enter the deregulating European energymarket, Altra Energy Technologies Inc. announced that Sema Group,an international information technology (IT) and business servicescompany, has agreed to be Altra’s exclusive European distributor.

Gathering and storage assets of Oklahoma Natural Gas (ONG) andKansas Gas Service (KGS) are headed for deregulation, much to thechagrin of the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office. The move evengives pause to one of the three commissioners on the OklahomaCorporation Commission (OCC).

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge signed House Bill 1331 last Tuesday, deregulating many aspects of the states gas industry and paving the way for statewide customer choice to begin Nov. 1.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge signed House Bill 1331 Tuesday,deregulating many aspects of the state gas industry and paving theway for statewide customer choice to begin Nov. 1.

Illinova Energy Partners (IEP) purchased another niche retailmarketing operation last week to bolster its presence in keyderegulating markets. The company, which has added EMC GasTransmission in Michigan and Equitable Resource Marketing inIndiana during the last six months, purchased Tempe, AZ-basedQuality Energy Services (QES) to gain a foothold in thesoon-to-be-deregulated Arizona energy market.

Illinova Energy Partners (IEP) purchased another niche retailmarketing operation yesterday to bolster it presence in keyderegulating markets. The company, which has added EMC GasTransmission in Michigan and Equitable Resource Marketing inIndiana during the last six months, purchased Tempe, AZ-basedQuality Energy Services (QES) to gain a foothold in thesoon-to-be-deregulated Arizona energy market.

Blaming a “necessary” investment to penetrate Georgia’sderegulating gas market, Scana Corp. posted 1998 fourth quarterconsolidated earnings of $31 million or $0.30 cents per share, downfrom $59 million or $0.55 cents per share for 4Q97. For the year,however, Scana Corp. increased consolidated earnings from $221million or $2.06 per share in 1997 to $223 million or $2.12 pershare for 1998.

Houston Industries said last week it will meet the deregulatingenergy industry with a new name, Reliant Energy, which will begintrading under its new ticker symbol (NYSE:REI) Feb. 8.