Practices

Several California parties, including state regulators and Attorney General Bill Lockyer, have decided not to pursue a subpoena for documents from El Paso Corp. after the two sides reached an agreement, according to a FERC judge.

A claim by a former employee for the Financial Times’ (FT) subsidiary Resource Data International (RDI) Monday before a California state Senate committee alleging that FT’s Gas Daily natural gas price index was manipulated by traders, brought a prompt retort from Gas Daily’s current owner that the account was a “misrepresentation of the facts.”

In a strikingly similar case facing Pennsylvania regulators, the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUCT) staff wants customer complaints in Texas to be resolved before bankrupt NewPower Co.’s certification as a Retail Electricity Provider (REP) is pulled. Before NewPower declared bankruptcy this spring, the PUCT had received more than 300 customer complaints about the company’s service.

Dynegy Inc. apparently is attempting to negotiate a settlement of an investigation of its accounting practices by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Sources told the Journal that lawyers for Dynegy have been discussing a resolution with the SEC, but it was not clear how much progress had been made, or whether Dynegy also was attempting to resolve a criminal inquiry by the Department of Justice.

Fueled by a rash of disclosures about questionable energy trading practices, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) last week offered modified stand-alone legislation that seeks to bring over-the-counter (OTC) energy and metals derivatives traded over private electronic exchanges under the oversight umbrella of the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission (CFTC).

Even in the current political maelstrom surrounding some of its past trading practices during California’s energy crisis of 2000-2001, the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the nation’s largest municipal utility, is financially and operationally secure in mid-2002, looking to expand its natural gas buying and power generation portfolios, according to its General Manager David Wiggs.

In the first-ever probe of a company’s online trading system or its derivatives trading practices, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched a full investigation into Enron Corp.’s commodities activities, centering on whether the former trading giant committed fraud or manipulated markets through improper trading on commodity exchanges. An Enron spokesman said the company would cooperate with the inquiry.

In the first-ever probe of a company’s online trading system or its derivatives trading practices, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched a full investigation into Enron Corp.’s commodities activities, centering on whether the former trading giant committed fraud or manipulated markets through improper trading on commodity exchanges. An Enron spokesman said the company would cooperate with the inquiry.

According to a stipulation and agreement between the Maryland Office of the People’s Counsel and Baltimore Gas & Electric, BGE must change its gas purchasing practices and buy between 10% and 20% of its winter gas supply under fixed-price agreements. The settlement was filed with the Maryland Public Service Commission this week. The switch to fixed-price contracts was a revision to BGE’s market gas commodity price procedure, which establishes the commodity portion of retail gas prices. BGE sets commodity prices based on monthly reported gas prices in spot markets. Under the agreement, BGE will buy 10-20% of its winter supplies between April and September under fixed-price deals. Gas purchased under the fixed price agreements will not be subject to sharing mechanisms or prudence reviews. “The volatility of natural gas spot prices hurt residential customers in Maryland this past winter,” said Peoples Counsel Michael J. Travieso. “This settlement will bring some diversity to BGE’s supply portfolio and help moderate the effects of unstable spot prices on consumer bills. Customers will benefit from more predictable gas costs.” The settlement also reduces what consumers must pay for BGE to reserve future gas supplies from $1.625 per year to $300,000.