Petitions

Salespeople for U.S. Energy Savings Corp. falsely promised savings, circulated bogus petitions “to lower heating bills” and claimed to work for regulated utilities and the government to lure people into “some of the worst natural gas deals in Illinois history,” a consumer coalition charged in a complaint filed last week. The company, however, denied the allegations and said it will “vigorously defend the action.”

Salespeople for U.S. Energy Savings Corp. falsely promised savings, circulated bogus petitions “to lower heating bills” and claimed to work for regulated utilities and the government to lure people into “some of the worst natural gas deals in Illinois history,” a consumer coalition charged in a complaint filed Monday. The company, however, denied the allegations and said it will “vigorously defend the action.”

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC, last Tuesday rejected petitions that either directly or indirectly challenged a FERC policy statement allowing regulated energy companies, such as crude oil and natural gas pipelines, that are partnerships to recover actual or potential income tax liability in their cost-of-service rates.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC, Monday rejected petitions that either directly or indirectly challenged a FERC policy statement allowing regulated energy companies, such as crude oil and natural gas pipelines and public utilities, that are partnerships to recover actual or potential income tax liability in their cost-of-service rates.

Local distribution companies (LDC) in several states filed emergency petitions with state commissions at the end of the month, dropping benchmark gas rates for January by as much as $2.00/dth following the recent precipitous decline in futures and wholesale cash prices over the last two weeks.

The American Gas Association (AGA) has petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review FERC’s order eliminating the contract term limit for matching competing bids by pipeline shippers exercising their right-of-first-refusal (ROFR) in replacing expiring contracts.

New Jersey Natural Gas Co. (NJNG) said Thursday that it has filed with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) for an adjustment in the price of Basic Gas Supply Service (BGSS), which will raise its customer’s bills by 3%.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco rejected petitions by the California Power Exchange (Cal-PX) to stay three critical elements of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Dec. 15 order, which mapped out a series of reforms for the out-of-control California wholesale power market.

Producers and industrial gas customers have filed petitions forreview of FERC’s latest revisions to the natural gas market, Orders637 and 637-A, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District ofColumbia (Case No. 00-1217) (see NGI, Feb. 14 and May 22)