Permanent

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.