Kept

Pacific Gas & Electric kept a Stage 3 high-inventory OFO declared for Saturday in place through Sunday, cutting the imbalance tolerance from 1% to zero. No OFO was in effect Monday or today.

El Paso declared an Unauthorized Overpull Penalty situation Sunday and kept it in place through Monday.

Most prices kept falling Thursday but at a slower rate of decline than on Wednesday. Citing lower weekend load and the prospects for milder weather, a number of traders expect more softness today.

The swing market kept falling Friday, but outside of continuedtriple-digit plunges in California, the softness was generallymild. The Southwest basins and Rockies joined a few scatteredMidcontinent and Gulf Coast points in declines of about 15 cents ormore, but otherwise the downticks were about a dime or less.

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a systemwidelow-inventory OFO beyond Thursday. However, Northern Natural Gaskept a System Overrun Limitation for all market area zones in placeat least through Thursday.

Prices kept falling Wednesday, but the declines wereconsiderably more moderate than the previous day’s plunges.Dollar-plus drops at the Northern California points (Malin andPG&E citygate) were the only remaining vestiges of the marketrout that had appeared to be developing Tuesday. All non-Californiapoints ranged from flat to down about a dollar.

As California kept its string of Stage One and Two power alertsgoing through most of last week, the plot in its now six-month-olddrama thickened with an endless array of actors and subplots.Without a break for intermission, the spotlight shifted to federalofficials in Washington, DC, late in the week for the second act ofsteps that might bring some order to the chaotic western wholesaleelectricity market covering about a dozen states.

As California kept its string of Stage One and Two power alertsgoing Thursday, the plot in its now six-month-old drama thickenedwith an endless array of actors and subplots. Without a break forintermission, the spotlight shifts to FERC today and what itsaction might bring in settling the chaotic western wholesaleelectricity market.

Except in the Rockies and Southwest, prices kept rising Tuesdaybut not nearly as spectacularly as on the day before. Californiawas still registering triple-digit increases, but otherwise, mostpoints went up between a nickel and 15 cents. The Pacific Northwestand Northeast citygates saw most of the non-California gainsgreater than 20 cents.