Determined

The staff of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada has determined that Southwest Gas overpaid for natural gas last summer by about $8.13 million because of a poor hedging program and over-reliance on the spot market. As a result, the staff has recommended that amount be taken out of a rate balancing account and that the utility be ordered to improve its risk management practices.

The staff of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada has determined that Southwest Gas overpaid for natural gas last summer by about $8.13 million because of a poor hedging program and over-reliance on the spot market. As a result, the staff has recommended that amount be taken out of a rate balancing account and that the utility be ordered to improve its risk management practices.

El Paso’s postponement dates for smart pigging of Line 1103 (seeDaily GPI, March 14) became inoperative after the pipelinedetermined that cleaning of the line would not be completed asexpected. El Paso said it will wait until Line 1103 is completelyclean before announcing a new pigging schedule. “By waiting, wewill only be able to give the notice one to two days prior to theevent, but we feel that is preferable to the possibility of havingto postpone yet another time.”

TransCanada Pipelines put down the scalpel last week and took upthe ax. Having determined the path toward improved financial healthmust involve some painful surgery, the company decided to lop off15% of its asset base in exchange for expected proceeds of about$3.6 billion (net $3 billion), which will be used to pay down debt.It also decided to trim its dividend by a hefty 30% to $0.80/share.

Determined to fight to the end, NiSource took its $68/shareoffer ($5.6 billion) directly to Columbia Energy Group shareholderson Friday. It also filed litigation against Columbia and itsdirectors in the Delaware Chancery Court in an attempt to gain anopportunity to nominate a director to fill a vacant seat onColumbia’s board.