Grants

Over the objections of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC), the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) last week granted Columbia Gas of Ohio Inc. the right to sell excess natural gas and space on its pipeline to other customers, which would fund its customer choice program for four more years.

Over the objections of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC), the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) this week granted Columbia Gas of Ohio Inc. the right to sell excess natural gas and space on its pipeline to other customers, which would fund its customer choice program for four more years.

On its usual split 3-2 vote, the California Public Utilities Commission Tuesday approved $7.4 million in general rate increases for Las Vegas, NV-based Southwest Gas Corp. for its natural gas distribution utility customers in the remote foothill and desert regions in the eastern side of the state. The action authorized $3.8 million for Southwest’s Northern California customers and $3.6 million in the southern half of the state.

On its usual split 3-2 vote, the California Public Utilities Commission Tuesday approved $7.4 million in general rate increases for Las Vegas, NV-based Southwest Gas Corp. for its natural gas distribution utility customers in the remote foothill and desert regions in the eastern side of the state. The action authorized $3.8 million for Southwest’s Northern California customers and $3.6 million in the southern half of the state.

A bankruptcy court granted energy merchant Mirant Corp. $500 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing on Monday. The company had asked the court to approve the financing, which will be provided through a loan from General Electric Capital Corp., to supplement its cash on hand to fund its merchant power and marketing and trading operations.

A bankruptcy court granted energy merchant Mirant Corp. $500 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing on Monday. The company had asked the court to approve the financing, which will be provided through a loan from General Electric Capital Corp., to supplement its cash on hand to fund its merchant power and marketing and trading operations.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued final certificates or favorable preliminary determinations (PD) on nonenvironmental grounds to five major pipeline expansion projects last Wednesday at its regularly scheduled meeting. The Commission awarded a certificate to Northwest Pipeline’s Evergreen expansion in the state of Washington and granted a PD to PG&E Gas Transmission Northwest’s 2003 Expansion project in Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Both projects would serve mainly new power generation in the Pacific Northwest region. Several eastern pipeline projects also received regulatory approvals.

California’s coalition of state government agencies and private-sector utilities late Friday asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its March 26 ruling on future wholesale power refunds to consider all of the additional evidence the state coalition provided early in March. The move came three days after FERC granted a rehearing on the narrower issue of the natural gas pricing formula used in the refund case.

FERC denied requests for rehearing and stay by numerous pipeline customers and approved stiffer creditworthiness standards for Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL), including a plan to suspend service within five business days if a shipper falls behind in payments a second time within six months and another plan that would halve the time period to 15 days for suspending service when a shipper is delinquent in payments.