Statewide

To prevent an explosion like the one that killed 12 people who were camping near Carlsbad last August, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission is expected to approve a study to review the condition of all the state’s natural gas pipelines, which could be completed before the end of this year.

To prevent an explosion like the one that killed 12 people whowere camping near Carlsbad last August, the New Mexico PublicRegulation Commission is expected to approve a study to review thecondition of all the state’s natural gas pipelines, which could becompleted before the end of this year.

With a winter season peak demand of less than 30,000 MW,California nonetheless Monday instituted rolling blackouts of 1,000MW across nearly the entire state shortly after Noon PST. TheCal-ISO said the system was down 14,000 MW of capacity due toplanned maintenance, a generator accident, lower imports and somepower loss from qualifying facility (QF) cogeneration plants.

California energy officials declared another power alert Mondayas statewide electricity reserves threatened to dip below 7% in theface of near-record cold weather power demand and more than 11,000MW out of service, about 4,000 MW of which were on an unplannedbasis. Part of the unplanned loss of generation capacity wasattributed to a transmission breakdown in the San Joaquin Valley onpart of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s system.

Electric restructuring is almost a reality for Ohio consumersstatewide as American Electric Power’s (AEP) transition plan andMonongahela Power’s plan were approved by the Public UtilitiesCommission of Ohio. AEP’s and Monongahela’s Ohio customers will nowjoin the customers of the other three utilities in enjoying thefreedom of choosing their electricity supplier, with servicestarting as early as Jan. 1.

As cooler-than-normal temperatures statewide reduced peak-powerdemand to winter levels, California last week was awash in proposedsolutions to its electricity price and supply problems, which arelikely to be much more severe next summer.

A government-run transmission grid is one of the ideas that willbe proposed this week by California’s statewide association of 30government-run utilities in response to the summer electricityprice and supply woes. The municipal utilities account for about25% of the state’s electricity.

Electric restructuring is almost a reality for Ohio consumersstatewide as American Electric Power’s (AEP) transition plan wasthe latest to be approved by the Public Utilities Commission ofOhio. AEP’s Ohio customers will now have the freedom of choosingtheir electricity supplier, with service starting as early as Jan.1.

While only 11 states can boast of legislation requiringstatewide customer choice for gas service, a group of Michiganlegislators have recently acted to boost that total. A package ofseven bills was introduced to the state legislature last week withthe goal of totally deregulating the state’s gas industry by April2005. Rep. Mary Ann Middaugh (R-MI-MIH080), one of the package’ssponsors and chair of the energy and technology committee, said thepackage will be considered when the Michigan House returns toLansing next month.