Deregulation

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has asked the stateSenate to postpone the July 2002 deadline for deregulatingOklahoma’s electricity market in light of power market problems andhigh prices in deregulated states such as California, New York andMontana.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has asked the stateSenate to postpone the July 2002 deadline for deregulatingOklahoma’s electricity market in light of power market problems andhigh prices in deregulated states such as California, New York andMontana.

Deregulation of New Hampshire’s electricity market moved a giantstep closer to becoming a reality on Tuesday. The New HampshirePublic Utilities Commission approved the state’s settlementagreement with Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH),allowing the process of electric restructuring to continue on itstrack.

Peoples Energy Corp. has invested $5 million in EnerTech CapitalPartners II LP, a private equity firm specializing in investmentopportunities for the deregulated energy, utility andtelecommunications industries. With Peoples’ monetary commitment,EnerTech now has $235 million in committed capital to makeinvestments.

Michigan Gov. John Engler has signed into law an electricderegulation utility package which mandates an immediate 5% ratecut for residential customers and gives the state’s Public ServiceCommission (PSC) additional authority to ensure competition existsfor electric services.

Michigan Gov. John Engler did as expected on Saturday, signinginto law an electric deregulation utility package which mandates animmediate 5% rate cut for residential customers and gives thestate’s Public Service Commission (PSC) additional authority toensure competition exists for electric services.

William McCormick, CEO of CMS Energy called for the Michiganlegislature to pave the way for added electric generation and fullcompetition in the state. He presented his comments to a group ofpeople at the Midland Cogeneration Venture (MCV) 10th yearanniversary ceremonies yesterday.

While only 11 states can boast of legislation requiringstatewide customer choice for gas service, a group of Michiganlegislators have recently acted to boost that total. A package ofseven bills was introduced to the state legislature last week withthe goal of totally deregulating the state’s gas industry by April2005. Rep. Mary Ann Middaugh (R-MI-MIH080), one of the package’ssponsors and chair of the energy and technology committee, said thepackage will be considered when the Michigan House returns toLansing next month.

The end of Georgia gas deregulation process is proving to be notonly eventful, but also confusing for customers. On Tuesday (Aug.10), the day before the market share of the 20 gas suppliers was tobe determined, 77,000 gas customers in the state switched fromAtlanta Gas Light (AGL) to one of 20 marketers, for fear of beingplaced on a random assignment list, which actually won’t be made upuntil Monday.