Period

California seemed as unprepared as ever last week to meet itsenergy needs in the face of a blast of cold weather. The power gridwent through an intense struggle to meet heavy winter demandbecause a huge amount of generation was off-line due to eitherdesperately needed maintenance or low water levels behindhydroelectric dams. But the big surprise was record gas demand forSan Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), which was forced tocurtail some interruptible customers.

Northwest is lifting today the Stage III Declared EntitlementPeriod for the northern half of its system that went into effect lastFriday (see Daily GPI, Oct. 9). However,the pipeline gave warning of the potential for subsequent entitlement,which allows it to impose a new entitlement after the close of theconfirmation process for the coming gas day. In addition, Northwestsaid effective today it will be necessary to limit the Kemmerer (WY)and possibly the Meacham (OR) and/or Green River (WY) Stations toprimary nominations only in order to make space for Northwest to moveClay Basin storage gas to the Jackson Prairie storage facility. Thepipeline explained the situation this way: “Throughout SeptemberNorthwest experienced continuous customer drafting. To compound theproblem, the price difference between Canadian and Rockies gassupplies has been significant, causing Kemmerer throughput to remainat or above capacity. The price difference threatens to continueindefinitely. If the drafting and unprecedented use of maximumKemmerer capacity persists, depleting Jackson Prairie and making ClayBasin unavailable for use in Northwest’s market areas, customersshould be advised that Northwest must continue to use the toolsavailable to maintain system integrity, including entitlement,alternate gas allocation and operational flow orders.”

Northwest notified shippers of a Declared Stage I OverrunEntitlement Period (Overrun Entitlement) that began Thursday andwill continue through the Oct. 2 gas day or until further notice.The entitlement applies to delivery points north of Kemmerer (WY)Station and subjects a Receiving Party to penalties for overtakesmore than 3% greater than its confirmed nominations. Northwestnoted it has experienced continuous drafting throughout September,resulting in low Jackson Prairie storage levels and low systemlinepack. Additionally, the large unit at Soda Springs Stationimmediately north of Kemmerer went off-line Wednesday due tomechanical problems, reducing station capacity from 470,000 Dth/dto about 430,000 Dth/d. Repairs are expected to take three to fivedays. To avoid cutting primary gas at Soda Springs, Northwest mustrely on Jackson Prairie withdrawals, necessitating the entitlement.

After defaulting on multiple contracts last July during a periodof extreme power prices and taking huge losses to make up for theproblem, Cinergy considered getting out of trading entirely.However, it ended up scaling back its national operations to aregional focus and it brought in a large new team of moreexperienced players.

After defaulting on multiple contracts last July during a periodof extreme power prices and taking huge losses to make up for theproblem, Cinergy considered getting out of trading entirely.However, it ended up scaling back its national operations to aregional focus and it brought in a large new team of moreexperienced players.

To prepare for the coming peak period of electricityconsumption, the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) hasannounced it will monitor the state’s wholesale electric marketduring this first summer of its operation. The market now isadministered by the New York Independent System Operator (NY ISO),an independent non-profit organization that operates the state’sbulk power system and administers a competitive wholesale marketfor electricity.

Acknowledging that a combination of unexpected generator outagesand sustained hot weather could create the threat of power outagesthis summer, the California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO)launched a new alert system for gaining enough voluntaryconservation by businesses and mass consumers to ride out thepeak-demand periods. Calling it “Power Watch 2000,” Cal-ISOPresident/CEO Terry Winter said he anticipates that both short- andlong-term the state can use market-based programs to addresspotential shortfalls.

Reliant is under a Critical Period operational alert due tosevere weather in the system’s market area. Effective today no SBSrate schedule storage withdrawals will be allowed until furthernotice.

San Diego-based Sempra Energy, the creation of a merger betweenPacific Enterprises and Enova in mid-1998, has announced avoluntary job cut plan seeking a net reduction of about 275positions, or about 2.5% of its overall work force. The majority ofthe job eliminations will be rolled out in January and will targetmanagement and administrative support jobs at Sempra’s corporateheadquarters and in its two California utilities, SouthernCalifornia Gas and San Diego Gas and Electric.