Organization

The New England Gas Association (NEGA) and the New York Gas Group (NYGAS) will merge to become the Northeast Gas Association (NGA), effective Jan. 1, 2003. The new organization will represent the local distribution companies, interstate pipeline companies, LNG importers, and associate companies involved in supporting the natural gas industry in the seven-state region of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Craig Frew, NEGA chairman, and Ralph Tedesco, chairman of the NYGAS Executive Committee announced the merger Tedesco, President and COO of New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG), will be the first chairman of NGA. Dennis E. Welch, President and COO of Yankee Gas Services Company, will be the vice chairman. Thomas M. Kiley, who has served as President of NEGA and Acting Executive Director of NYGAS, will be President of NGA. NEGA and NYGAS first entered into an alliance in 2001, when they combined several administrative and management functions. The formation of the NGA is consistent with the increasing consolidation of the natural gas industry in the Northeast. The NGA will be administered at 75 Second Avenue, Suite 510, Needham, MA 02494, telephone: (781) 455-6800. A New York office will be located at 1515 Broadway, 43rd floor, New York, NY 10036, telephone: (212) 354-4790.

FERC last Wednesday ruled that a proposal to form a regional transmission organization (RTO) covering a Pacific Northwest footprint known as RTO West will not only meet the requirements of the agency’s RTO-related Order 2000 — with some modifications and further development of certain details — but can also provide a basic framework for a standard market design for the West.

Any examination of Maine’s electric utilities joining a regional transmission organization (RTO) that would include northern Maine and parts of Canada shouldn’t work from the assumption that such an RTO, in and of itself, will automatically yield a range of benefits for the state’s electricity consumers, a number of industry stakeholders recently told the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

Dismissing an eleventh-hour attempt by a regional utility watchdog organization to hold up its pending merger, Akron, OH-based FirstEnergy Corp. reported last week that it has closed its merger with Morristown, NJ-based GPU Inc. The companies announced that the effective date of the merger was Nov. 7.

Given the inability of the natural gas standards-setting organization to resolve the issue of intra-day recalls of released transportation capacity, FERC has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) that would give releasing shippers the flexibility to re-nominate their recalled capacity at the next scheduling opportunity provided by an interstate pipeline.

Given the inability of the natural gas standards-setting organization to resolve the issue of intra-day recalls of released transportation capacity, FERC has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) that would give releasing shippers the flexibility to re-nominate their recalled capacity at the next scheduling opportunity provided by an interstate pipeline.

EnergyClear Corp., the first industry-sponsored over-the-counter (OTC) energy derivatives clearinghouse, has been approved for registration as a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The registration as a DCO allows the Houston-based company to offer multilateral clearance and settlement of OTC energy trades, initially in the electricity and natural gas markets.

EnergyClear Corp., the first industry-sponsored over-the-counter (OTC) energy derivatives clearinghouse, has been approved for registration as a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The registration as a DCO allows the Houston-based company to offer multilateral clearance and settlement of OTC energy trades, initially in the electricity and natural gas markets.

FERC last week took the first step towards developing a broadregional transmission organization (RTO) in the southeasternsection of the nation.