Governor

John Geesman, 51, a lawyer who previously served on the California Independent System Operator’s governing board, was named Thursday to an open seat on the California Energy Commission, which sites power plants and oversees energy resource planning and conservation programs. Gov. Gray Davis made the announcement, noting that this fills out the five-member commission that is based in Sacramento. It is the same agency that Geesman once headed as executive director.

John Geesman, 51, a lawyer who previously served on the California Independent System Operator’s governing board, was named Thursday to an open seat on the California Energy Commission, which sites power plants and oversees energy resource planning and conservation programs. Gov. Gray Davis made the announcement, noting that this fills out the five-member commission that is based in Sacramento. It is the same agency that Geesman once headed as executive director.

The bill amends existing law to authorize the railroad to issue bonds to finance the construction and maintenance of a gas line and related facilities for transporting natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope. It also authorizes the railroad to negotiate with producers of natural gas on the bond issue.

Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles introduced legislation to authorize the Alaska Railroad Corp. to issue $17 billion in tax-exempt bonds to finance the proposed Alaska Highway natural gas pipeline. The bill states that building a gas pipeline is an essential purpose of the state and critical to the state’s health and welfare.

Following a plea by the Georgia governor to help the thousands of state consumers whose natural gas remains cut off for not paying bills, two marketers and a Georgia utility have stepped forward to fulfill the role of provider of last resort (POLR). Gov. Roy Barnes earlier this month asked the state’s Consumers Utility Counsel (CUC) to petition the Public Service Commission (PSC) because nearly 50,000 customers remain without gas after being unable to pay last winter’s unusually high bills (see Daily GPI, Nov. 12).

Following a plea by the Georgia governor to help the thousands of state consumers whose natural gas remains cut off for not paying bills, two marketers and a Georgia utility have stepped forward to fulfill the role of provider of last resort (POLR). Gov. Roy Barnes earlier this month asked the state’s Consumers Utility Counsel (CUC) to petition the Public Service Commission (PSC) because nearly 50,000 customers remain without gas after being unable to pay last winter’s unusually high bills.

As state legislators frantically try to come up with a legislative alternative to the governor’s deal with Southern California Edison Co., the consumer watchdog part of the California Public Utilities Commission last week blasted a more recent agreement, or memorandum of understanding (MOU), crafted with Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas and Electric Co.

More than the California governor’s “usual suspects” appear in the list of top 20 power sellers to the state during the first five months of this year when average spot prices went from $321/MWh in January to $271/MWh in May, according to pricing information released Monday by the state Department of Water Resources (DWR). Average overall prices–spot and long term–paid by DWR went from $316/MWh in January to $243/MWh in May.

From the White House to Congress to the California governor’s office to the boardrooms of the nation’s top power marketers and generators, all eyes will be on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today as it convenes a specially meeting to address a multitude of requests for rehearing of its much-maligned market monitoring and price mitigation plan that went into effect in late May for the California power market.