Reason

While some may argue that California’s energy woes offer a prime reason for placing the electric competition genie firmly back in its bottle, a recent case study by a global consulting group asserts that California’s energy difficulties mask the fact that other power markets in the United States are not only surviving, but thriving, with the PJM market serving as the perfect example.

While some may argue that California’s energy woes offer a prime reason for placing the electric competition genie firmly back in its bottle, a recent case study by a global consulting group asserts that California’s energy difficulties mask the fact that other power markets in the United States are not only surviving, but thriving, with the PJM market serving as the perfect example.

Need a reason to embrace the future of the power industry? Howabout 10 reasons? Several U.S. utility executives last week offeredtheir upbeat take on the power generation and natural gas outlookfor the next five years, with El Paso Energy, Reliant Energy,Dynegy Inc. and Williams Energy Services giving a birds-eye view ofwhat’s ahead during a forum at PowerMart 2000 in Houston.

Need a reason to embrace the future of the power industry? Howabout 10 reasons? Several U.S. utility executives yesterday offeredtheir upbeat take on the power generation and natural gas outlookfor the next five years, with El Paso Energy, Reliant Energy,Dynegy Inc. and Williams Energy Services executives giving abirds-eye view of what’s ahead during an executive forum atPowerMart 2000 in Houston.

With little to no change in influences from Monday, cash pricessaw little reason for change themselves Tuesday. The result was agenerally flat market, but small declines outweighed the fewup-ticks.

Impressed with their handiwork following Tuesday’s positivemarket momentum, Nymex bulls were on the offensive again yesterdayas they loaded up on long positions ahead of yesterday’s storagereport. After opening at Tuesday’s high of $2.77, the Aprilcontract rumbled higher yesterday morning only to tumble back intothe $2.70s in the afternoon. The prompt month closed up 4.3 centsat $2.794.

Despite moderating temperatures pervading much of the countryyesterday, gas futures were able to inch higher and take back asmall portion of recent losses as traders positioned themselvesahead of the release of fresh weather and storage news. March andApril contracts closed up 4.5 cents a piece at $2.54 and $2.507,respectively, while the 12-month strip grew 3.3 cents to $2.614.

Anyone who was complaining about a lack of winter likely hasshut up by now, and for good reason. Right on top of the first one,the eastern United States last week was bracing for its second coldsnap of the year.

“Storm hype” was billed as the overriding reason for Friday’scontinuation of this week’s price increases that accomplished whathardly anbody thought possible: bring some points back to eitherside of September indexes. The new gains defied the usual weekenddemand slump, growing complacency about finishing storage injectionseason comfortably, a mostly negative screen and cool, autumn-likeweather in many major market areas. In wide-ranging trading,influenced largely by a similarly volatile futures contract, mostcash points ranged from barely up to as much as 15 cents higher.The majority of the gains tended to be on either side of a dime.