Money

There’s plenty of capital available for investment in the transmission sector, but that money isn’t flowing more freely because of a lack of certainty that continues to permeate much of the power industry, a Senate hearing looking at the financial condition of the electric market was told last Tuesday.

New energy legislation introduced in British Columbia is expected to save money and improve services for the province’s industry and customers, Energy and Mines Minister Richard Neufeld said Thursday.

Production companies worldwide have been throwing money at reserve replacement efforts with few results over the past few years, according to a new study by Norwalk, CT-based consulting firm John S. Herold, Inc. Profits were down 21% last year, yet capital expenditures were up 14%. Herold said worldwide oil and gas reserve replacement costs soared by 36% in 2001, but producers should find some relief this year and possibly in 2003 because of higher oil and gas prices.

Dynegy Inc. finally sparked the investor confidence it sorely needed last week following a teleconference ostensibly to report first quarter earnings. Instead, news that it had renewed its much-needed revolving credit line for $900 million 24 hours before the deadline — thus guaranteeing the company’s liquidity in even the worst case scenario — pulled the stock ahead nearly 30% in one day. Chairman Chuck Watson also appeared to soothe Wall Street nerves with his corporate-wide commitment to retain an investment credit rating, making it Dynegy’s top priority going forward.

Enron Corp. offered some good news to former employees awaiting payment for business expenses, unused vacation and health claims. It said Friday that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New York, which is handling its case, will allow it to make payments to former employees, and said it was “now in the process of calculating vacation payments for former employees and anticipates that it will make payment by late February 2002.” The court has approved payment for unused vacation days subject to the $15,000 cap and also has authorized full payment of pre and post-petition expense reports and health benefits, subject to Enron’s regular approval policies.

While he strongly supports a money settlement between parties in the high profile case alleging affiliate and market-power abuse on the part of El Paso Corp. subsidiaries, FERC Chief Administrative Law Judge Curtis Wagner Jr. indicated that he won’t postpone issuing his initial decision to accommodate settlement negotiations. Assuming a settlement is not brokered, Wagner said he “feels strongly that this case should proceed to decision at the very earliest possible date.”

FERC Chief Administrative Law Judge Curtis Wagner Jr. yesterday “strongly encourage[d]” parties to reach a monetary settlement in the high-profile case in which California regulators have accused El Paso Natural Gas and El Paso Merchant Energy Co. (EPME) of illegally manipulating natural gas prices in California and committing affiliate violations.

The nation’s largest municipal utility, and one of the public sector bulk power suppliers that has made some money supplying power to the rest of California recently, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is reassessing its natural gas strategy for its fleet of in-state power plants in and around the LA Basin.

Duke Energy reported last Monday it would be willing to accept less money for the power it sold in California during January and February, as long as assurances are made by the California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) and the California Power Exchange (Cal-PX) that it will be paid. Duke said if guarantees are made, it will waive the credit premiums on its bids (which amount to nearly $20 million) and accept the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) clearing price for transactions during those months.