power

New York State Electric and Gas’ indirect subsidiary XENERGYInc. has won a contract to provide gas and power supply procurementand management services for 3,000 state facilities of theCommonwealth of Massachusetts. The first phase of the three-phasecontract begins immediately, and is worth almost $500,000. Thecommonwealth spends $80 million/year on gas and electricity for allits facilities.

Coral Energy expanded its gas and power marketing enterprisewith two West Coast acquisitions, which complement its Canadian gassupply position.

Algonquin Gas Transmission plans a 70-mile HubLine extension toconnect to several new and exisiting power generation loads in theNortheast, particularly around Boston, and with new suppliesthrough the proposed Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline system.

Central Maine Power Co. and New York State Electric & Gas(NYSEG), have received conditional authorization to develop a planto settle one of the last frontiers of gas distribution, Maine, butBangor Gas, a joint venture between Energy Pacific and BangorHydro, may beat them to it. CMP Natural, the joint venture betweenCMP and NYSEG, received preliminary approval from the Maine PublicUtility Commission (MPUC) to serve 60 Maine communities withnatural gas but the PUC staff still has to review the details ofits business plan application and issue a draft order. That hasbeen done already for the Bangor Gas project, a smaller projectthat would serve the greater Bangor area. Bangor Gas partner BangorHydro has some concerns of its own, however.

Despite a three-month delay because of technical interfaceproblems, the California Independent System Operator and theCalifornia Power Exchange Corp. (PX) announced they have completeda week’s worth of testing and have notified FERC they’re ready toopen the statewide electricity market on March 31. They intend tocommence operations by accepting bids in the Day Ahead market onMarch 31 with the first full day of operations being the day after.