Rate

On the heels of a federal judge refusing to force stateregulators to grant immediate rate relief, Southern CaliforniaEdison Tuesday faced some of its major creditors in a conferencecall, looking for more of the same forbearance that generators sofar have extended the cash-starved utility and thesimilarly-situated Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

Prices kept falling Wednesday, but the declines wereconsiderably more moderate than the previous day’s plunges.Dollar-plus drops at the Northern California points (Malin andPG&E citygate) were the only remaining vestiges of the marketrout that had appeared to be developing Tuesday. All non-Californiapoints ranged from flat to down about a dollar.

NGPL waived the monthly net withdrawal minimums through Marchfor storage customers under Rate Schedule DSS. It also waived for2001 a requirement that 50% of DSS inventory be cycled by April 30of each year.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission approved Scanasubsidiary PSNC Energy’s fourth gas rate increase since May. PSNCwas granted an increase from 98 cents per therm to $1.18 per thermfor year around residential customers. The 20% hike goes in effectin January and translates into an annual cost of $160. The ratesPSNC Energy is charging customers are 50% higher than in January2000. On average, residential customers can expect to see around a$340 per year increase to their natural gas bills as compared tolast year. “With plenty of gas in storage for peak demand duringcold winter days, we’re prepared to meet our customers’ demand forgas throughout the winter” said PSNC Energy President Charles E.Zeigler. “At the same time we want to help our customers manage theimpact of higher heating bills.” PSNC is franchised to serve a28-county service area in North Carolina and distributes naturalgas to 360,000 winter-peak customers in 95 cities and communities.

Regional Reliability Councils and their members are about 90%compliant, but work still needs to be done to bring standards upand encourage non-members to join, according to the latest reportfrom the North American Electricity Reliability Council. NERC haspublished its findings for the second of four phases of its Year2000 Compliance Program, created to ensure adherence to NERC andregional standards.

No one can really predict the weather, “but at the rate winteris setting in, by the middle of February we’ll be where we usuallyare in April” in regard to natural gas in storage, according toThomas A. Petrie, chairman of Petrie Parkman & Co. in Denver.

Joining in the feeding frenzy that has become California’selectricity rate debate, a San Diego-based utility consumer groupand four law firms last week filed a class action lawsuit against13 major generators, marketers and energy trading companies,charging them with price fixing and market manipulation.

Chicago powerhouse Exelon announced new earnings targets for itsthree principal businesses yesterday, setting targets to grow at arate of about 10% a year through 2003. The company projectedearnings per share of $4.50 for 2001; $4.95 in 2002; and $5.40 in2003. Previous earnings per share had been $4.20 for 2001; $4.60 in2002; and $5.10 in 2003. Reduced amortization, partially offset byhigher spending for operations in its energy delivery business, isthe principal driver for the earnings increase said Exelonofficials. Exelon was formed in September 1999 in the merger ofPECO Energy Co. and Unicom Corp., and is one of the largestelectric utilities and the largest nuclear operator in the UnitedStates.

With energy prices rising at an alarming rate, there’s no bettertime than the present to launch expansion projects for gas pipelineinfrastructure. Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and AlgonquinGas Transmission did just that last week, filing applications withthe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build related pipelineextensions designed to bring Sable Island gas to the greater Bostonarea, including a couple new power plants.