Named

Patricia K. Swanke has been named vice president, operations,for The Dayton Power and Light Co., effective immediately. Swankebegan her career at DP&L in 1990 and has held variouspositions, most recently as managing director of gas and electrictransmission and distribution operations.

Dennis and Emily joined Cindy Tuesday as the latest namedtropical storms in the Atlantic, and cash prices responded byresuming a climb that had faltered slightly as the week began.Nearly all eastern gains were at least a nickel or greater, withsome points rising by double digits. Somewhat surprisingly,however, most of the dime-or-greater increases occurred in theWest, led by one of nearly 20 cents at the PG&E citygate. TheCalifornia market in general was boosted as Pacific Gas &Electric threw something of a curveball at traders: instead of thefrequent high-linepack OFOs this summer, the one that takes effecttoday is for low linepack (see Transportation Notes).

FERC Chairman James J. Hoecker has named Susan G Pollonais ashis advisor on gas and oil issues, replacing Patricia W. Jagtiani,who has accepted a position with the Natural Gas SupplyAssociation. Pollonais has served as a public utility specialist inthe Office of Pipeline Regulations Division of Litigation since1997. From 1993 to 1997 she was a gas regulatory consultant andproject manager for Northern States Power.

Activity continues to pour from the Powder River Basin, as CMSContinental Natural Gas, a CMS Energy subsidiary, named OkemahConstruction Inc. as the winning bidder to build the NorthernHeader Gas Gathering System. CMS Continental will be the operatorof the new header, which will help increase the accessibility ofthe basin’s coal bed methane gas to main market points. The costwas not disclosed. CMS said the gathering system will beoperational November 1.

Southern Energy Inc. (SEI), one of Southern Co.’s mainsubsidiaries, named S. Marce Fuller its new CEO last week. Underthe leadership of the former CEO, Tom Boren, SEI reported $69million in second-quarter 1999 earnings, compared with $25 millionfor the same period last year. Now it is up to Fuller to continuehis success.

Southern Energy Inc. (SEI), one of Southern Co.’s mainsubsidiaries, named S. Marce Fuller its new CEO Tuesday. Under theleadership of the former CEO, Tom Boren, SEI reported $69 millionin second-quarter 1999 earnings, compared with $25 million for thesame period last year. Now it is up to Fuller to continue hissuccess.

Shareholders of New Century Energies and Northern States PowerCo. approved the merger of the two companies yesterday. The newcompany will be named Xcel Energy Inc. At separate specialshareholder meetings held today in Denver and Minneapolis, morethan 83% of the voting shares of both NCE and NSP voted in favor ofthe merger. “This transaction will be accretive immediately, willprovide a balanced platform for growth, and will provide NCE andNSP customers with continued low-cost, reliable energy,” said NCEPresident Wayne Brunetti, who will become CEO of Xcel Energy. NCEsaid 93% of its shareholders representing 78% of its overall sharesapproved the deal, and 83% of NSP’s shareholders representing 62%of its shares okayed the transaction. The merger, announced onMarch 25, still requires state and federal regulatory approval. Theapproval process is expected to be completed in nine to 15 months.Under terms of the merger agreement, holders of NCE stock willreceive 1.55 shares of stock in Xcel Energy for each of their NCEshares. Each share of NSP stock will become one share of XcelEnergy.

NiSource has named former Vastar CEO William A. (Andy) Lang asthe new president and COO of TPC Corp., which it purchased fromPacifiCorp for $150 million in April. Lang and several other newofficials have been hired to rebuild TPC’s energy marketingoperations and grow its existing portfolio management business.

James F. Whitesides has been named president of Ameren Corp.’strading and marketing subsidiary, AmerenEnergy in St. Louis, movingup from vice president of energy trading. Whitesides had previouslybeen in forward and financial trading with Cinergy Power Marketingand Trading.