Signs

There was no shortage of hand-wringing and news mediaannouncements in the West in the wake of recent electricity pricespikes and multi-million-dollar estimated consequences fromCalifornia’s relatively modest round of rolling brownouts aroundthe San Francisco Bay Area. The big question — particular inCalifornia — is whether new solutions will come from regulators,lawmakers or the market.

There was no shortage of hand-wringing and news mediaannouncements in the West in the wake of recent electricity pricespikes and multi-million-dollar estimated consequences fromCalifornia’s relative modest round of rolling brownouts in andaround the San Francisco Bay Area. The big question — particularin California — is whether new solutions will come fromregulators, lawmakers or the market.

The market was beginning to show more signs of volatilityWednesday, although the swings weren’t quite as wide-ranging asmost of those last week. Cash numbers fell by 10-15 cents at nearlyall points but were expected to rebound again today after futurestraders treated AGA’s afternoon storage report as bullish.

El Paso Merchant Energy Co. will manage Niagara Mohawk PowerCorp.’s gas supply and storage refill program in a seven-monthasset management agreement announced yesterday. The agreement,signed April 1, gives El Paso Merchant management responsibilitiesover Niagara Mohawk’s existing term supply, interstatetransportation and underground storage. The total volume of gas tobe supplied over the term of the agreement is 40 Bcf. El PasoMerchant will handle storage for 20 Bcf.

In the largest supply deal of its growing unregulated portfolio,Reliant Energy Retail Group announced yesterday it has inked ClarkRefining & Marketing’s Port Arthur, TX, hydrogen complex to along-term supply deal worth a potential 43.8 Bcf/year.

Akron, OH-based FirstEnergy last week became one of the firstutilities to offer its services through Utility.com, a one-stoputility shopping website. Under an alliance with the web site,FirstEnergy will sell its electricity, gas and energy-relatedservices through Utility.com to customers in Ohio, Delaware andMaryland. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Nevada government officials are continuing to push ahead withlicensing of nonutility electricity service providers and otheraspects of restructuring the state’s power industry, despitefederal and state court challenges by the two incumbent utilitiesthat promise to delay implementation of a more competitiveelectricity market by up to 18 months.

Through an alliance announced yesterday, Akron, OH-basedFirstEnergy became one of the first utilities to offer its servicesthrough Utility.com, a one-stop utility shopping website. Under thearrangement, FirstEnergy will sell its electricity, gas andenergy-related services through Utility.com to customers in Ohio,Delaware and Maryland. Financial terms of the agreement were notdisclosed.

EnergyUSA-TPC, a subsidiary of NiSource, is making good use ofits high deliverability storage expertise, signing on to managesupply for utilities and independent generators while a subsidiaryadds new storage facilities in the Northeast and Mississippi.