Expect

California’s natural gas industry probably shouldn’t expect anyflowers in sympathy anytime soon. The California Cut FlowerCommission said last week that some of the state’s growers havebegun laying off workers and even sacrificing their Valentine’s Daycrops because they can’t afford to heat their greenhouses.

Should the energy industry expect more mergers and acquisitions?Eric Mullins, a former Houston Oiler football player and nowmanaging director of Goldman Sachs, said he didn’t have to go outon “much of a limb” to answer that question. “Maybe I’ll just say’yes’ and sit down,” he told attendees of Arthur Andersen’s EnergySymposium in Houston last week..

Should the energy industry expect more mergers and acquisitions?Eric Mullins, a former Houston Oiler football player and nowmanaging director of Goldman Sachs, said he didn’t have to go outon “much of a limb” to answer that question. “Maybe I’ll just say’yes’ and sit down,” he told attendees of Arthur Andersen’s EnergySymposium in Houston yesterday.

After etching out its daily trading range during the first 45minutes Friday, natural gas futures limped lazily sideways for therest of the session, as traders elected to stay mostly on thesidelines ahead of the 4-day holiday weekend. The August contractfinished 5.3 cents stronger at $4.476 in a session that saw lessthan 40,000 contracts change hands.

Marking the start of what many expect to be a major trend overthe next few years, a Florida county authorized the construction ofa 460 MW gas-fired facility earlier this week. The $100 millionplant, which will be built and operated by Reliant Energy, willstart service in the fourth quarter of 2001. The Osceola CountyCommission Board approved the plan by a vote of 4-1.

A PHB Hagler Bailley annual survey found that many topexecutives in the gas and electric industry expect to become moreinvolved in e-commerce and telecommunications over the next fiveyears. The results of the survey, called PHB Hagler Bailley EnergyIndustry Outlook 2000, were released last week at the NationalPress Club in Washington, D.C.

A PHB Hagler Bailley annual survey found that many topexecutives in the gas and electric industry expect to become moreinvolved in e-commerce and telecommunications over the next fiveyears. The results of the survey, called PHB Hagler Bailley EnergyIndustry Outlook 2000, were released yesterday at the NationalPress Club in Washington, D.C.

Commonwealth Edison and PECO Energy told regulators last weekthey are expecting approval of their mega-merger in near recordtime because of a long list of expected merger benefits and fewapparent regulatory hurdles. They filed applications and notices ofreorganization last week with FERC, the Pennsylvania PUC and theIllinois Commerce Commission.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. attorneys expect to file a proposedsettlement with state regulators today for reducing imbalances andOFOs on its transmission pipeline system in northern California. Atleast 10 parties have signed in support of the proposed changes,including statewide consumer advocate The Utility Reform Network(TURN), the City of Palo Alto municipal electric utility andmerchant underground natural gas storage operator Wild GooseStorage.