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State-by-state regulation is holding back the development of amore competitive U.S. energy economy while other countries alreadyare benefiting from deregulation — something that regulators needto realize, the CEO of UtiliCorp United told energy executivesyesterday.

Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E), has reached an agreementwith the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) staff and othercompanies and groups to actively promote the customers’ right tochoose among competing natural gas suppliers.

In an answer to a complaint filed by Niagara Mohawk EnergyMarketing that was supported by a number of other power marketparticipants, the New York ISO told FERC last week that it is aware ofthe software problems that caused scheduled power exports to berejected in early May despite being commercially and economicallyviable. The rejection caused NMEM to lose $68,000 in four hours (seeDaily GPI, June 23). The ISO said ithopes to have repairs to its export software completed bymid-July. “Accordingly, the issues and requested relief in thecomplaint are essentially moot, and the complaint should therefore bedismissed,” the ISO told FERC. “The complaint suggests that thecurrent SCUC procedures were adopted in a deliberate effort todiscriminate against exports from New York. This is not true,” theISO said. “The SCUC protocols that caused the [Niagara Mohowk] exporton May 8 not to be scheduled were the result of the implementation ofassumptions made in the software development process in favor ofpreserving reliability…”

Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E), has reached an agreementwith the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) staff and othercompanies and groups to actively promote the customers’ right tochoose among competing natural gas suppliers.

NGPL reminds that today is the start of its open season forcapacity from Chicago and other points on its system to the Eastunder its capacity exchange deal with TETCO. NGPL is marketing the”seamless” transportation service under its new HubAmerica program.The open season to determine the level of customer interest endsJune 15. Contact Bruce Page, director of HubAmerica, (877) 482-2637

The cash market, not having much in the way of new influencesother than a large drop in crude oil futures, got quieter Tuesdayin both activity level and price movement. Few points ranged anyfurther than 2-3 cents up or down from flat.

San Juan Basin and California were conspicuous Monday as theonly markets swimming against a bearish tide. All other cash pointswere falling by anywhere from a penny or two (Southwest/Rockies) to15 cents or more, with the majority of declines tending to bebetween a nickel and a dime.

It was time to get out the smelling salts again Tuesday torevive traders swooning from the altitude of Northeast citygates.Quote averages zoomed higher by more than $2 at a few points, andone source reported hearing that intra-day numbers for deliveriesinto the Boston area via Tennessee and Algonquin peaked at $10.

Like many other industrial operators before it, Duke EnergyServices has found that operating along California’s famouscoastline can be a rocky proposition. Duke has been forced to pullback and reconfigure plans for its Morro Bay power plant along thecentral coast to accommodate local city concerns and is makingpromises to increase the city’s coffers by up to 30% through theplant remodel.