Involving

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) followed its ownprecedent set in early October in rulings involving three otherstate utilities by granting South Jersey Gas last week almost halfof the Levelized Gas Adjustment Clause increase it requested tomeet higher wholesale natural gas prices. The utility hadpetitioned for a 39.7% rate increase, but the board granted thecompany a 19% annual raise.

News Flash! Energy companies can be fun too. Such is the caseinvolving Williams employees, who according to the company, willattempt to complete the largest money raising bike ride fundraiserin the United States. Some 80 cyclists will embark on a relay-style2,000 mile journey departing from New York City on Sept. 25 andarriving at Williams Tower in Houston on Oct. 3. In the secondannual “Williams’ 2000 Riding The Line” fundraiser, each rider willcover approximately 60 to 70 miles a day, roughly tracing the pathof the company’s Transco natural gas pipeline andtelecommunications network. The fundraiser hopes to raise $5million for United Way, which if successful will be the singlelargest event in the charity’s 110-year history. The team raisedmore than $2 million dollars in the ride’s inaugural year.

Georgia regulators have become bitter following the thirdsettlement of a slamming case involving a retail gas marketer andthe second retail marketer bankruptcy. Simmering tempers havereached the boiling point with some public service commissionersconcluding the deregulation process has been a total failure.Others remain hopeful that the many lessons learned in the processwill help the PSC proceed with electric deregulation when itbecomes the next order of business.

FERC yesterday set the merger between Western Resources Inc. andKansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) for evidentiary hearingon issues involving market power and customer protection.

A battle for a grip on the growing gas market in the Florida Panhandle has flared up, involving a trio of gas pipeline companies, two of which are planning new offshore routes to the state from producing platforms near Mobile Bay, AL.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington D.C. has begun toexplore the possibility of criminal action in the case involvingNicholas J. Bush, former president of the Natural Gas SupplyAssociation (NGSA), who was relieved of his duties two weeks ago inthe wake of allegations that he defrauded the trade group of morethan $2.4 million over a 12-year period. NGSA made the allegationsin a lawsuit it filed two weeks ago.

Similar to a deal the two companies made last May involvingthree power plants in the Los Angeles Basin, Williams and AESforged an agreement last week in which Williams will supply thefuel and market the power produced from an AES-built and -operatedpower facility in Pennsylvania. The AES Ironwood plant will belocated in South Lebanon Township and will have a capacity toproduce 700 MW. Financial terms of the transaction were notdisclosed.

Recent decisions by FERC and Utah regulators involving theextent of their jurisdiction over the interstate transportationactivities of Questar Gas, a Utah-based LDC, don’t appear to becontradictory, say lawyers and company officials. In fact, the tworulings complement each other, particularly on the issue of states’authority over the interstate function of Hinshaw-exempt gasdistributors.

Recent decisions by FERC and Utah regulators involving theextent of their jurisdiction over the interstate transportationrole of Questar Gas, a Utah-based LDC, don’t appear to becontradictory, say lawyers and company officials.