Overshadows

While some may argue that California’s energy woes offer a prime reason for placing the electric competition genie firmly back in its bottle, a recent case study by a global consulting group asserts that California’s energy difficulties mask the fact that other power markets in the United States are not only surviving, but thriving, with the PJM market serving as the perfect example.

Natural gas traders wasted little time doing something Mondaythey have haven’t done in a while — they took profits. Followinga string of four-straight advances, market makers wasted littletime testing Wednesday’s lows in the Sunday night access sessionand then again yesterday morning. The December contract was thehardest hit, shedding 20.9 cents to close at $6.368. Comparatively,the out months fared much better as traders rolled Dec longs intothe summer strip and calendar year 2001, both of which finished inpositive territory on the day.