Possible

Northwest Natural Gas Co. confirmed Friday that it is negotiating with Enron Corp. to buy its slow growing electric utility Portland General Electric Co. (PGE), but added “there can be no assurances that any transaction will result” from its negotiations. Enron has been trying to sell the utility for nearly two years, and was close to completing a $3.1 billion deal with Sierra Pacific Resources, but that sale fell apart nearly six months ago in the midst of the California energy crisis (see NGI, April 30).

In a move to stave off a possible involuntary bankruptcy attempt, Southern California Edison announced it has agreed to pay the City of Long Beach, the largest municipality in its service territory, $14 million for past-due bills related to power that the city sells to the utility from a municipal waste-fired generation plant.

Bruce Birchman, the FERC administrative law judge (ALJ) overseeing proceedings related to possible refunds for electricity overcharges in California, last Thursday issued a revised trial schedule related to the proceeding under which he now plans to certify proposed findings of fact in mid-December.

Efforts by FERC to get a handle on how much California is due for possible electricity overcharges by generators are coming under fire from a number of quarters. Public power entities are arguing that the Commission has no right to assert authority over municipals, while several power marketers question why those parties that are potentially on the hook for refunds have never been given the chance to defend themselves and offer evidence as to whether refunds should have been ordered in the first place.

While still holding out the carrot of a possible 40-well, 3 Tcf natural gas play in the agricultural fields west of the central California valley town of Delano, Tri-Valley Corp. of Bakersfield announced that it has a letter of intent to sign a deal with an unnamed, privately held international energy company that wants to develop the prospective gas field in conjunction with building a baseload merchant electric generating plant. Tri-Valley called the field its Sunrise Natural Gas Project.

While still holding out the carrot of a possible 40-well, 3 Tcf natural gas play in the agricultural fields west of the central California valley town of Delano, Tri-Valley Corp. of Bakersfield announced Wednesday that it has a letter of intent to sign a deal with an unnamed, privately held international energy company that wants to develop the prospective gas field in conjunction with building a baseload merchant electric generating plant. Tri-Valley called the field its Sunrise Natural Gas Project.

Bruce Birchman, the FERC administrative law judge (ALJ) overseeing proceedings related to possible refunds for electricity overcharges in California, recently issued a trial schedule under which Birchman plans to certify proposed findings of fact in early November.

FERC last week voted out a final rule that imposes a monthly (price and volume) reporting requirement on natural gas transporters and sellers to California until September 2002 in an attempt to bring gas prices there in line with other major markets around the country.

With the convergence of regulatory, political and financial solutions for California’s investor-owned utilities heating up Monday in the state legislature and regulatory halls, questions about additional retail rate increases are being raised. Officials with Gov. Gray Davis are going out of their way to squash the notion that any more increases are imminent, on heels of 40% hikes earlier this year that just became effective in June.