Parties in ongoing settlement negotiations have given up hope ofan all-encompassing, permanent solution to California’s futurenatural gas unbundling puzzle following an Oct. 6 meeting in LosAngeles. The best and most realistic hope now appears to be forattaining consensus on an interim solution by the regulator-imposedOct. 27 deadline, along with what parties describe as an”aggressive” timetable of up to two years for resolving andimplementing the issues of intra-state transmission and storageunbundling.
Ongoing
Articles from Ongoing
Puget’s Purchase Eliminates PURPA Contract
In an ongoing effort to reduce power costs from existing PublicUtilities Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA) contracts, Puget SoundEnergy announced yesterday an agreement to buy a 160 MW gas-firedcogeneration plant in Bellingham, WA, from Encogen for $164million. Puget Sound said buying the facility eliminated its secondlargest PURPA contract, a deal which required it to pay Encogenfixed and escalating fees through mid-2008 for the plant’s output.
FERC’s Sea Robin Ruling Misses Mark, Pipes & Producers Say
FERC’s attempt at a “Solomonic solution” to the ongoing debateover the function of Sea Robin Pipeline – dividing the offshoresystem in two, with the smaller part being declared transportationand the larger section found to be gathering – apparently hasfailed miserably, with both pipelines and their customers citingshortcomings with the remand decision and seeking rehearing. If theSea Robin ruling is upheld by FERC, the case – which has beenpending since 1995 – would be headed back to the courts for asecond time.
TransCanada’s Post-Merger Strategy Still a Work in Progress
TransCanada promised $70 million in savings to its pipelinecustomers last week as part of an ongoing effort to work outsynergies and structural issues caused by last year’s merger withNova Corp. But while the company is working on its internaloperations, other companies are sizing up TransCanada as apotential acquisition, according to Jim Oosterbaan, vice presidentfor the Alberta-based consulting firm Ziff Energy Group.
Commonwealth Eyes Pennsylvania, Weary of CA
Tossing aside an ongoing state regulatory investigation of someof its billing practices, California’s most aggressive independentenergy service provider (ESP), Commonwealth Energy, plans to moveinto Pennsylvania and New Jersey next month where it expects a morestraightforward and receptive marketplace for its residential andsmall business electricity products. While signing up more than60,000 customers in California’s daunting retail mass power marketsso far, Commonwealth has been able to pass on savings of up to fivepercent, emphasizing green power from environmentally benignsources, developing prospects for new green products and shoppingfor power generation operations of its own, in addition to eyeingother states as the next stage of its two-year-old development.
Midcoast Targeting Canadian Midstream
Midcoast Energy of Houston continued an ongoing buying spree last week. This time, however, the company has set its sights to the North. Subsidiary Midcoast Canada Operating Corp. bought the Calmar gas treating plant and gathering system in Alberta from Probe Exploration Inc. for C$20 million (US$13.2 million). The company said it has its sights on similar acquisitions in the future.
Labor May Play Role in Filling CPUC Seats
Political forces are prevailing over economics in California’songoing efforts to finish the job of unbundling its natural gas andelectricity industries, and no one in the newly elected Gov. GrayDavis’s administration so far is getting involved, according toenergy industry observers in the state capital in Sacramento. As aresult, three months into 1999, the five-member California PublicUtilities Commission is operating with two vacant seats, stillawaiting gubernatorial appointments.
Series of Conferences Planned To Tackle Gas Reforms
As part of its ongoing quest to comprehensively reform thenatural gas industry, FERC last week announced that it is planninga series of conferences to tackle issues ranging from its proposedcapacity auction to state unbundling to a pre-filing collaborativeprocess for gas pipeline projects.