Receives

Following months of negotiations that led to a settlement agreement in August, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has approved GPU Inc.’s merger with FirstEnergy Corp. Now all that stands in the way is an approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, after which the financial closing of the transaction would take place.

Granting the company’s mid-August petition, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved Philadelphia Gas Works’ proposal to reduce rates for its natural gas customers. The reduction will result in a $171 million cut in rates for its more than 520,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers (see Daily GPI, Aug. 20).

If the Energy Information Administration (EIA) follows through on plans to expand the confidential treatment of data it receives from electric power plants, the move could stifle efforts to promote electric competition in the United States and hamstring state and federal regulators from effectively fulfilling their oversight responsibilities.

If the Energy Information Administration (EIA) follows through on plans to expand the confidential treatment of data it receives from electric power plants, the move could stifle efforts to promote electric competition in the United States and hamstring state and federal regulators from effectively fulfilling their oversight responsibilities.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday received the White House nomination of Pennsylvania regulator Nora M. Brownell to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to a spokesman for the panel. This came less than a day after the committee received the Bush administration’s nomination of Texas regulator Patrick Wood III to the Commission.

In one of the largest open season tallies ever, El Paso Natural Gas reported last week that it received 127 shipper requests for a total of 9.7 Bcf/d of firm transportation capacity in its recent March open season for an expansion to California (see NGI, March 19). A total of 76 shippers requested 4.5 Bcf/d for deliveries to the California border or inside the state and a total of 51 requested 5.2 Bcf/d for deliveries to states east of California.

El Paso Natural Gas reported yesterday that it received 127 shipper requests for a total of 9.7 Bcf/d of firm transportation capacity in its recent open season. A total of 76 responses were received requesting 4.5 Bcf/d for deliveries to the border or inside the State of California and a total of 51 responses were received requesting a volume of 5.2 Bcf/d for deliveries to states east of California.

DTE Energy and MCN Energy Group got one step closer to their merger after receiving approval from the Federal Trade Commission last week. The merger was first announced in October 1999 (see NGI, Oct. 11, 1999), and when finally completed as expected this summer, it would combine DTE’s Detroit Edison, Michigan’s largest electric utility, with MCN’s Michigan Consolidated Gas Co.

Months after an arbitrator awarded American Central GasTechnologies Co. $8.3 million in a ruling that Union PacificResources (UPR) and Duke Energy Field Services (DEFS) hadmonopolized natural gas processing in Panola County, TX, thecompanies are at it again, this time in an East Texas districtcourtroom (see NGI, Aug. 14, 2000).