State

State regulators decided yesterday to perhaps up the ante inconsidering penalties against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. foralleged rules violations in advertising and promotion materials bysome of its unregulated energy affiliate companies.

Atlanta Gas Light Services, the retail marketing subsidiary ofGeorgia LDC Atlanta Gas Light, reached a compromise with retailmarketers and state regulators Wednesday, and agreed to change itsname to Georgia Natural Gas Services. The company will retain theuse of its flame logo, however.

FERC has announced plans to meet on Friday with Midwest stateutility commissioners and officials with the National Associationof Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) to discuss the pricingturmoil that hit the Midwest electricity markets in the last weekof June.

In the first week of enrollment in Pennsylvania’s ElectricChoice Program, 1.1 million electric customers across the statesigned up to participate, the Pennsylvania Electric Associationsaid yesterday.

If 1998 Atlantic hurricane predictions by faculty at ColoradoState University are correct, the four-year period of 1995 through1998 will have been the most active consecutive four years forhurricanes on record. This year’s Atlantic hurricane activity ispredicted to be “appreciably more than 1997 but less than theunusually active 1995 and 1996 seasons.

A class action complaint was filed in the Supreme Court of NewYork in Nassau County against MarketSpan Corp. and former seniorofficers/directors of Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO). Theclass action was filed on behalf of current shareholders ofMarketSpan who were stockholders of LILCO and/or The Brooklyn UnionGas Co. (BU) or its successor, KeySpan Energy Corp. at the time ofthe merger of LILCO and BU.

Three senators from leading energy-producing states unveiled amajor legislative plan Tuesday aimed at shoring up the domestic oiland gas industry in the face of depressed crude oil prices. Themeasure, titled the National Oil and Gas Security Enhancement Plan,seeks to provide producers with regulatory, leasing and tax relief.

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) today received approval from theWashington State Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) tomake natural gas available for the first time to portions ofKittitas County.

Central Maine Power Co. and New York State Electric & Gas(NYSEG), have received conditional authorization to develop a planto settle one of the last frontiers of gas distribution, Maine, butBangor Gas, a joint venture between Energy Pacific and BangorHydro, may beat them to it. CMP Natural, the joint venture betweenCMP and NYSEG, received preliminary approval from the Maine PublicUtility Commission (MPUC) to serve 60 Maine communities withnatural gas but the PUC staff still has to review the details ofits business plan application and issue a draft order. That hasbeen done already for the Bangor Gas project, a smaller projectthat would serve the greater Bangor area. Bangor Gas partner BangorHydro has some concerns of its own, however.