Mesa

A pioneering firm in California’s ill-fated competitive retail electricity market, Costa Mesa, CA-based Commerce Energy Group Inc. hired an investment banking unit with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) earlier in September to assess the national energy retailer’s options for selling or partnering with another firm in the industry. A letter and subsequent financial filing by Commerce’s largest shareholder prompted the action.

Costa Mesa, CA-based Commerce Energy Group Inc. announced Monday it has closed a $4 million acquisition of 300 commercial/industrial (C/I) natural gas customer accounts from Houston Energy Services Co. (HESCO). The customers have accounts in five states — California, Florida, Nevada, Kentucky and Texas — with an estimated collective load of 12 Bcf/year, effectively tripling Commerce’s natural gas sales volumes.

Costa Mesa, CA-based Commerce Energy Group Inc., which bills itself as the nation’s largest independent retail energy provider, announced Tuesday it has signed a major natural gas supply agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the nation’s second largest public school system. Commerce officials refused to give any details on the volumes or terms of the gas supply deal, which starts in July. The agreement covers 217 campuses within the LAUSD.

Transcolorado declared a force majeure Sunday at its Whitewater Compressor Station in Mesa County, CO. The pipeline said it expects repairs to be completed by Wednesday. Effective for the intraday one cycle Monday until further notice capacity through segment 210 is limited to 325,000 Dth/d. The outage also has reduced capacity through segment 240 to 375,000 Dth/d.

With experience in retail energy markets going back to the start of natural gas deregulation, the two executives tapped by the board at Costa Mesa, CA-based Commerce Energy Group, Inc. to return the national electric/natural gas retail marketer to profitability have long energy ties to Texas and California. Commerce Energy is the result of several acquisitions and mergers over the past two years as it has tried to turn profitable in seven states with retail competition in the natural gas and/or electricity industries.