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After less than two years as president of NGC Corp., TomMatthews is leaving the company for an organization he considers anon-traditional utility, Washington Water Power (WWP). He said thecompany he will run as CEO and chairman of the board is among abouta half dozen utilities that have been “inventive and creative” inresponding to deregulation.

Pacific Gas & Electric said less than 1,000 of the more than60,000 customers who lost natural gas service last week in SantaCruz County, CA, were still without service Monday. A massivelandslide Wednesday had ruptured two main transmission pipelinesserving the county, which is southwest of San Jose. More than 600PG&E workers and another 190 from Southern California Gasworked thoughout the weekend to restore service. Facilities withhot showers were set up in two towns for those without gas to heatwater. It was PG&E’s largest gas restoration project since the1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused severe damage to thedistribution system throughout Northern and Central California, thecompany said.