Regulatory

Kinder Morgan Power Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of KinderMorgan Inc. announced plans to build a 550-MW electric power plantin Jackson, MI. All the necessary regulatory permits and approvalshave been obtained, and construction on the $250 million naturalgas-fired plant will begin this month. Operations begin in June2002. CEO Richard D. Kinder said the Jackson station will be thesecond in a series of electric power plants that Kinder will buildusing its proprietary Orion configuration. The Orion projects usegas and steam turbine generator sets and auxiliary equipmentprovided by General Electric’s S&S Energy Products. Kinder saidthat electricity demand has increased nearly 35% in the state inthe past 10 years, but no additional power plants have been built.Michigan imports some of its electricity from other states. TheJackson plant will operate during intermediate- and peak-demandperiods to provide wholesale electricity to electric utilities andpower marketing companies.

Bending another tool in its arsenal to shaping up the electricpower market, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hasapproved an 11.6% rate of return for Southern California Edison,replacing the 9.68% rate set earlier by an administrative law judge(ER97-2335, et al).

Bending another tool in its arsenal to shaping up the electricpower market, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hasapproved an 11.6% rate of return for Southern California Edison,replacing the 9.68% rate set earlier by an administrative law judge(ER97-2335, et al).

Sonat said Wednesday it had gotten regulatory approval for a planto repair the July 5 rupture in its 14-inch Romere Pass Line offshoresoutheastern Louisiana (see Daily GPI, July24). Barring unforeseen problems, the pipeline hopes to begin thework today.

It’s been a month since Western Hub Properties LLC received a regulatory green light on its Lodi Gas Storage Project in Northern California, but the company already is preparing to launch two more storage fields and has several others on the way.

One month after getting the regulatory green light on its Lodigas storage project in Northern California, Western Hub PropertiesLLC said it is about to announce another high-deliverabilitystorage project in Bakersfield, CA, near Wheeler Ridge, and ismoving forward on a storage facility in Live Oak and KarnesCounties, TX, near San Antonio.

In a daring move, a staff member of the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission’s new office that monitors the electric andnatural gas markets has accused the Commission of being powerlessto monitor and correct abuses in the electricity industry.

In a daring move, a staff member of the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission’s new office that monitors the energy marketshas accused the Commission of being powerless to pinpoint andcorrect abuses in the electricity industry due to an absence ofappropriate market data.

NSTAR, the parent company of Boston Edison, CommonwealthElectric, Cambridge Electric and Commonwealth Gas, has requestedthat the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission impose a price cap of$1,000/MWh on the New England power market to protect electricityconsumers from potential surges in electricity prices.