Followed

The cash market followed Wednesday’s leveling-off phase with upward movement at nearly all points Thursday. Quotes ranged from flat to up nearly 20 cents, with gains in the range of 5-15 cents being most common. A couple of scattered points saw small losses.

British gas company Centrica Plc has followed through on its previously announced deal to buy NewPower Holdings Inc., greatly expanding its presence in retail energy markets in North America. Centrica intends to buy all of NewPower’s outstanding shares for $1.05 per share in cash (subject to certain conditions), or a total of $130 million (see Daily GPI, Feb. 21). The acquisition is expected to include 650,000 U.S. residential and small business customers in states including Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

British gas company Centrica Plc has followed through on its previously announced deal to buy NewPower Holdings Inc., greatly expanding its presence in retail energy markets in North America. Centrica intends to buy all of NewPower’s outstanding shares for $1.05 per share in cash (subject to certain conditions), or a total of $130 million (see Daily GPI, Feb. 21 ). The acquisition is expected to include 650,000 U.S. residential and small business customers in states including Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

California’s debacle followed by Enron’s scandal has cast a broad shadow over state and federal energy initiatives this year, according to former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA), speaking last Thursday at a two-day industry conference in Seattle, “Buying and Selling Power in the West.”

California’s debacle followed by Enron’s scandal has cast a broad shadow over state and federal energy initiatives this year, according to former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA), speaking Thursday at a two-day industry conference in Seattle, “Buying and Selling Power in the West.”

Led by the sizable decline in natural gas and oil prices, Kerr-McGee Corp. reported drastically lower third quarter earnings when compared to the same period a year ago. Including charges for special items, the company posted net income of $26 million ($0.27 per share) for the quarter, compared with $265 million ($2.57 per share) during the same quarter in 2000.

Much of the cash market “followed the screen” essentially nowhere as flatness dominated at a majority of points Thursday. However, there were pockets of price movement here and there. The Northeast and PG&E-related California points weakened by as much as the teens, while San Juan/Rockies/Pacific Northwest quotes rose by a nickel or more. In addition, several scattered Gulf Coast and Midcontinent points defied the overall flat trend with upticks or downticks of up to a dime.

There’s one key requirement when building merchant power plants in Texas: think big, real big. FPL Energy LLC clearly followed that condition in announcing yesterday that it will take a lead role in building a 1,789 MW gas-fired merchant plant in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It will be one of the largest independent generation projects in the state.

Once again softening cash prices followed the lead of theprevious afternoon’s screen movement, and if that tendencycontinues to hold true, expect another falling cash market today.Wednesday’s declines ranged from about a nickel to 20 cents, andCalifornia stood out again with losses greater than those in thegeneral market.