Mandated

FERC should “take the lead” in establishing a “new system” for gathering, preparing and reporting data on natural gas trades to either a government-run or government-sanctioned price index developer, said a national group of consumer advocate agencies.

In a market practically mandated by the weather forecasts, non-Rockies prices dropped by double-digit amounts in nearly all cases Friday. A winter storm approaching the upper Rocky Mountains from Northern California and the Pacific Northwest boosted area load enough to keep most Rockies points flat to mildly lower and even raise numbers at the highly temperature-sensitive Cheyenne Hub.

California’s newly created state power authority began last week to shape the state’s legislatively mandated return to “integrated resource planning,” the process — pre-dating energy restructuring — of central state planning of the needed mix among fuels for electricity generation, renewables and demand-side management and responsiveness programs. The process sets aside the notion that markets will sort out the right mixture, giving that role to state government.

California’s newly created state power authority began this week to shape the state’s legislatively mandated return to “integrated resource planning,” the process — pre-dating energy restructuring — of central state planning of the needed mix among fuels for electricity generation, renewables and demand-side management and responsiveness programs. The process sets aside the notion that markets will sort out the right mixture, giving that role to state government.

Implementation of a mandated capacity auction, as proposed byFERC in its mega-notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), couldsignificantly thwart the opportunity for natural gas to gain agreater share of the prized electricity market in the future.