Finances

While customer growth has slowed with the economic downturn during the past 18 months, credit and finances for natural gas distribution companies look strong, according to a report by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P). The rating agency expects supportive regulatory decisions and continued access to capital market for the gas utility industry, the report said.

Running out of time to shore up its finances ahead of a bank facility expiration Dec. 22, Commerce Energy Wednesday announced an agreement to sell off most of its remaining customer base. Commerce has through Nov. 26 to carve out a deal with Universal Energy Group Ltd (UEG), according to Commerce CEO Gregory Craig.

Nearly three-quarters of American homeowners are concerned that home energy costs will strain their finances over the next year, according to a survey conducted by Impulse Research for MXenergy Inc. The research also found that only 30% have come to understand how home energy prices are set, and 90% feel they have limited or no control over energy costs.

Nearly three-quarters of American homeowners are concerned that home energy costs will strain their finances over the next year, according to a survey conducted by Impulse Research for MXenergy Inc. The research also found that only 30% have come to understand how home energy prices are set, and 90% feel they have limited or no control over energy costs.

Andrew Fastow, who as CFO guided Enron Corp.’s finances to the heights of success and then to its spectacular fall, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison and two years of community service. Fastow, 44, had faced a maximum 10 years in prison under a plea agreement he made with prosecutors two-and-a-half years ago (see NGI, Jan. 19, 2004).

Andrew Fastow, who as CFO guided Enron Corp.’s finances to the heights of success and then to its spectacular fall, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison and two years of community service. Fastow, 44, had faced a maximum 10 years in prison under a plea agreement he made with prosecutors two-and-a-half years ago (see Daily GPI, Jan. 15, 2004).

Jamie Olis, 38, a former tax executive for Dynegy Inc., was sentenced Thursday to 24 years in prison for his role in disguising the company’s finances within a transaction dubbed “Project Alpha,” which hid $300 million in debt.

The law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP said it filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of stockholders of Williams Companies, Inc. and/or Williams Communications Group, Inc. (WCG), alleging the companies made “material misrepresentations to the markets” between July 24, 2000 and Jan. 29, 2002. The actions served to inflate the price of the two companies common stock, the attorneys said.

After studying Kansas City-based Aquila Inc.’s finances exhaustively, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) said last week that the debt-burdened company may have no other choice than to divest some or all of its domestic utilities in order to fix its balance sheet.