Strikingly

In a strikingly similar case facing Pennsylvania regulators, the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUCT) staff wants customer complaints in Texas to be resolved before bankrupt NewPower Co.’s certification as a Retail Electricity Provider (REP) is pulled. Before NewPower declared bankruptcy this spring, the PUCT had received more than 300 customer complaints about the company’s service.

In a session strikingly similar to last Friday, natural gas futures opened higher, only to shuffle lower throughout the morning Tuesday as traders elected to look past the hottest temperatures yet this summer to focus on the likelihood of bearish storage news to be released this afternoon. After gapping higher at the open, the September contract was unable to attract much in the way of follow-through buying. As a result, the prompt month tumbled 5.6 cents lower yesterday to take back gains achieved Monday and to close even with Friday’s settle at $2.971.

Despite expectations for further weakening in natural gasfutures yesterday, the market surprised many observers by movingsharply higher after the American Gas Association reported a secondconsecutive weekly 78 Bcf increase in gas storage levels.