Municipals

Municipals on the losing end of a price spike sparked by an erroneous storage report petitioned FERC commissioners Friday to act immediately to require daily storage reports. Joining industrial and chemical customers who issued their protests a day earlier, the American Public Gas Association (APGA) said consumers will pay almost a billion extra dollars for their natural gas in December due to the incorrect report, which was released just prior to Thanksgiving (see Daily GPI, Dec. 3).

Taking its cue from FERC’s Dec. 15 ruling on reforms in theCalifornia power markets, a national group of municipal gasdistributors last week called on the Commission to immediatelyissue an order that would set $2.74/Mcf as the benchmark price fornatural gas over the next three years, and would provide forcustomer refunds for any sales above that level.

Just as the Department of Energy (DOE) reacted to public outcryover high oil and gasoline prices, Energy Secretary Bill Richardsonand FERC need to find out why wholesale natural gas prices havesoared to more than $4 since the start of the year and preparecustomers for possibly higher gas bills next winter, a majormunicipal gas group said yesterday.

In an attempt to put the brakes on the on-going merger mania,two trade groups of consumer-owned electric utilities petitionedFERC Monday to impose a two-year moratorium on marriages betweenand among large power utilities.

Aquila Energy has won a long-term, $24.3 million contract tosupply gas to to Nebraska municipals under a pre-paid contractdriven by the current low interest rates. Aquila will supply14,419,850 MMBtu over 10 years to Energy America, which isaffiliated with the Nebraska Municipal Power Pool, the MunicipalEnergy Agency of Nebraska and the Nebraska Public Gas Agency.