Saying

Sempra Energy shared its vision of the future with industryanalysts last week saying the key to earnings growth lies withunregulated businesses. The company’s goal of growing earnings pershare by 8 to 10% on a compound annual average basis over the nextfour years means it will be looking less and less like a utility.

“We were too optimistic,” El Paso admitted in saying that the Belen#1 turbine had gone down again after the pipeline announced Thursdayafternoon it had been repaired (see Daily GPI, March 10). San Juan Crossover capacityremained limited Friday to 630 MMcf/d, 20 MMcf/d below normal. El Pasoexpected to test the Belen turbine for a possible return to serviceSaturday. Maintenance on the Bondad Station’s 2A turbine was completedFriday.

Saying a takeover of Northeast Utilities (NU) by ConEdison wouldhurt the state’s consumers and economy, Connecticut AttorneyGeneral Richard Blumenthal recently filed statements at theConnecticut Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) opposingthe merger. The DPUC is expected to issue its final decision on themerger in May.

The New York State Reliability Council filed comments with FERClast week saying the proposed Millennium Pipeline’s current routeposes severe problems to the state’s electrical grid. Columbia GasTransmission, the main sponsor of the project, said it would workwith the council to resolve the situation.

The New York State Reliability Council filed comments with FERCearlier this week saying that the proposed Millennium Pipeline’scurrent route poses severe problems to the state’s electrical grid.

Saying a takeover of Northeast Utilities (NU) by ConEdison wouldhurt the state’s consumers and economy, Connecticut AttorneyGeneral Richard Blumenthal recently filed statements at theConnecticut Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) opposingthe merger. The DPUC is expected to issue its final decision on themerger in May.

Saying it is experiencing a shortage of receipts at itsMarshfield, WI, interconnect with Viking that may threaten itssystem integrity, ANR issued an OFO for the point that takes effecttoday. All firm shippers nominating MDQ (Maximum Daily Quantity)with Marshfield as a receipt point must keep their nominations atthose levels until further notice, and all firm shippers nominatingless than MDQ at Marshfield must raise their volumes to MDQ levels.Any firm shipper nominating Marshfield as a delivery point may notincrease volumes until further notice.

FERC last week approved the proposed merger of Illinova Corp.and Dynegy Inc., saying the $2 billion deal posed no competitiveconcerns. It noted “there is insufficient ‘overlap’ betweenrelevant upstream delivered gas and downstream electricitymarkets…to raise significant competitive concerns.” Also, thetransaction “does not enhance the merged company’s incentive toraise its rivals’ costs because it has a relatively small share ofthe relevant downstream electricity markets.”

Saying it expects high system linepack due to reduced demand andlimited storage injection capability to continue through theweekend, Tennessee is issuing an OFO Action Alert effective withSaturday’s gas day for its entire system. Under the alert, shipperswill be penalized for daily positive imbalances that exceed a 2%tolerance range (or 500 Dth, whichever is greater) from scheduledquantities. Penalties will not apply to customers who underdeliverinto the system or overtake from it, or to customers under RateSchedule LMS-MA who have elected the Storage Swing Option or Swingon Storage. Tennessee expects the alert to remain in effect intonext week.