Looking to shore up county, municipal and school district budgets without raising taxes on residents, Pennsylvania House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese (D-Greene County) is turning to Marcellus Shale oil and natural gas producers to foot the bill. He has introduced legislation that would allow counties to assess value to natural gas, oil and coalbed methane resources before they are produced and tax the producers.
Municipal
Articles from Municipal
Obama Asked to Support Retroactive Refunds for Gas Customers
A municipal natural gas group has called on President-elect Obama to support amending Section 5 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) to address a “fatal flaw” that prevents customers from collecting retroactive refunds when they have been overcharged by pipelines.
Obama Asked to Support Retroactive Refunds for Gas Customers
A municipal natural gas group has called on President-elect Obama to support amending Section 5 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) to address a “fatal flaw” that prevents customers from collecting retroactive refunds when they have been overcharged by pipelines.
Aggregator: Gas Drives Texas Power Volatility
The general counsel for two aggregators of Texas municipal electric consumers blames the natural gas futures market for high and volatile power prices in the state. While speculators can be blamed for some of the most recent run-up in gas prices, a globalizing gas market also gives him reason for concern, as gas is expected to be the marginal fuel for Texas power generation for some time.
Aggregator Blames Gas for Texas Power Price Volatility
The general counsel for two aggregators of Texas municipal electric consumers blames the natural gas futures market for high and volatile power prices in the state. While speculators can be blamed for some of the most recent run-up in gas prices, a globalizing gas market also gives him reason for concern, as gas is expected to be the marginal fuel for Texas power generation for some time.
APPA Calls on FERC to Restructure RTOs
In an effort to lower electric bills and increase benefits to consumers, a municipal power group last Wednesday called on FERC to restructure regional transmission organizations (RTOs) by keeping the functions that work well while cutting or substantially scaling back those RTO functions that don’t.
SoCal Muni Utilities Look for More Gas Deals
Having locked up reserves and pre-pay natural gas deals in the past two years, the infrastructure financing arm for a dozen Southern California municipal utilities is assessing its member utilities to determine if their tanks are full, or they still want to buy some peace of mind in terms of future fuel supplies for generating electricity in the southern half of the state. The assessment will come the first half of next year.
SoCal Municipal Utilities Look for More Gas Deals
Having locked up reserves and pre-pay natural gas deals in the past two years, the infrastructure financing arm for a dozen Southern California municipal utilities is assessing its member utilities to determine if their tanks are full, or they still want to buy some peace of mind in terms of future fuel supplies for generating electricity in the southern half of the state. The assessment will come the first half of next year.
Industry Brief
The Long Beach, CA, municipal gas utility’s 30-year, $900 million natural gas pre-pay supply contract with Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. closes Thursday, drawing an “AA-” rating for its city finance authority, which marketed two series of revenue bonds to support the deal. Up to 90% of the muni’s long-term supply needs will be satisfied under this deal, the city said. Chris Garner, general manager of the Long Beach Utility Department, received authorization from the city council in August to proceed with the pre-pay deal (see Daily GPI, Aug. 27). With more than 400,000 residents about 25 miles southeast of Los Angeles, the port city has an annual natural gas load of 12 Bcf. Supplies in the pre-pay deal could come from wherever Merrill Lynch can get them and guarantee they can get into the Southern California Gas Co. transmission system, to which Long Beach’s distribution system is connected, Garner said.
Industry Briefs
The financing arm of the municipal electric utility in Roseville, CA, received a negative outlook from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) on a $209.35 million tax-exempt bond to finance a 20-year, 46 Bcf natural gas pre-pay deal with Merrill Lynch & Co. because of recent financial disclosures by Merrill. S&P also gave an “AA-” rating to Roseville Natural Gas Financing Authority, the fuel financing unit of the muni in Roseville, a suburb east of Sacramento. S&P said the rating reflects a recent outlook revision for Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., which provides guarantees to the financing authority’s gas supplier and interest rate swap counterparty. The outlook downgrade followed Merrill’s announcement that it expects to record a material loss in the third quarter caused by a more significant exposure to leveraged loan commitments, subprime mortgages, etc. S&P’s previous outlook assumed less exposure for Merrill. The Roseville gas financing arm is a state-chartered joint powers authority and a nonprofit public financing entity in California. The public financing arm used the proceeds from the $209.35 million to fund prepayment for a long-term gas supply deal from Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. The gas is set for Roseville’s electric power generation system, priced at a first-of-the-month index from the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. citygate delivery point, minus a specific discount, according to S&P.