Sixth

The average price of electricity in the United States decreasedin 1999ÿfor the sixth consecutive year to the lowest rates since1990.ÿ The total decline in rates since 1994 is 3.6%, according toinformationÿreleased yesterday by the Energy InformationAdministration (EIA) in “Electric Sales and Revenue 1999.”

For the sixth week in a row, natural gas futures climbed higherFriday as traders once again eschewed the short side of the marketahead of the weekend. After setting the tone with a $4.60 openingtrade, bulls ran the show at Nymex Friday, boosting the promptcontract 8.8 cents to close at $4.628.

FirstEnergy of Akron, OH, will acquire New Jersey’s GPU Inc. ina $12 billion deal that will create the sixth largestinvestor-owned electric system in the country with the largestcustomer base in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) powerpool.

Top energy regulators from Canada, Mexico and the United Stateswill head the list of speakers at the Sixth Annual Meeting of theGas Industry Standards Board (GISB), to be held Sept. 25-26 in SanAntonio. Commissioner Linda Breathitt of the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission, Commissioner Raul Monteforte of Mexico’sComision Reguladora de Energia, and Deborah Emes, member ofCanada’s National Energy Board will deliver key addresses at themeeting, whose theme is “Convergence: Making it Work.” Stan Horton,chairman of the GISB board of directors and CEO of Enron GasPipeline Group; and Jim Buccigross, chairman of GISB’s ExecutiveCommittee, will report on the state of the standards-settingorganization. Other speakers include representatives of the FederalTrade Commission, and public utility commissions in Texas,Kentucky, Illinois, and Ohio.

Continuing its climb for the sixth day in a row yesterday onhurricane news and hot weather in the Northeast andMidcontinent/Midwest, September gas futures posted a 6.1-cent gainand ended the regular trading session at $4.409/MMBtu. The Octobercontract posted a 6.6 cent gain to $4.410 and November added 6cents to close at $4.450. Volume was 67,152.

The proposed marriage of KN Energy Inc. and Kinder Morgan Inc.has passed federal antitrust review and has been verbally approvedby Colorado regulators, which puts the deal on track to becompleted in the early fourth quarter, the companies said.

Yesterday’s Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 174 brought inonly about one-sixth the amount of high bids the previous westernGulf sale garnered last year; however, a spokeswoman for oneindustry group downplayed the lackluster results.

Historically, the end of the week has meant slackened gasdemand, but for the sixth consecutive Friday natural gas futureswere able to tack on gains. Revised weather forecasts for this weekand continued concerns over supply shortages gave rise to lightshort-covering throughout the trading session Friday. The Julycontract finished up 2.3 cents at $2.308 amid a moderate volume of64,873.