Struggles

San Francisco-based PG&E Corp. tossed aside the current financial struggles of both its regulated and merchant lines of business , announcing Thursday that it is a charter member of a new private-sector nonprofit, the California Climate Action Registry, a state-created voluntary registry for greenhouse gas emissions. All of PG&E’s businesses will report their greenhouse gas emissions associated with the generation, transmission, distribution and storage of natural gas and electricity in California.

The ongoing turmoil in the energy industry and residue of California’s fiscal and energy-related struggles have made it harder on the state’s largest natural gas buyer — the California General Service Department’s gas aggregation program covers more than 100 government facilities scattered across the state. The deadline for bids for up to 5 Bcf of supplies over a five-year period starting April 2003 will conclude this week (Aug. 23).

The ongoing turmoil in the energy industry and residue of California’s fiscal and energy-related struggles have made it harder on the state’s largest natural gas buyer — the California General Service Department’s gas aggregation program covers more than 100 government facilities scattered across the state. The deadline for bids for up to 5 Bcf of supplies over a five-year period starting April 2003 will conclude later this month (Aug. 23).

New York was caught off guard by the spring heat wave last week that pushed temperatures into the 90s for three straight days driving power demand up to summer levels at a time when as much as 10,415 MW of generation and a significant amount of transmission capacity was down for maintenance. Temperatures in the city hit record highs of near 90 on Tuesday, 95 on Wednesday and 92 on Thursday. Monday and Friday temperatures reached the 80s.

For retail natural gas choice to recover, several critical ingredients must be present, according to a report by R.J. Rudden Associates Vice President Howard S. Gorman. Residential choice is working well in Ohio, Maryland and Nebraska where meaningful numbers of residential customers participate and marketers are well established, but programs are not doing well in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New Jersey, where there are only a few participants or marketers, or in Georgia where the program has been disruptive to consumers and marketers. The verdict is still out in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Increased power purchase costs due to a six month unplanned outage at its Palisades nuclear plant, which is now back in service, as well as near-record warm weather in the fourth quarter and the impact of the economic slowdown on electric and gas sales, hammered CMS Energy financials. The Michigan-based utility and pipeline company reported a net loss of $1.03 per share or a loss of $138 million for the fourth quarter and a net loss of $545 million, or $4.17 loss per share, for the year. In comparison, the company reported a $1.44 loss per share, or a loss of $171 million, in the fourth quarter of 2000 and net income of $36 million, or $0.32 per share, in 2000.

With power projects cropping up faster than spring dandelions,an alarming disconnect has occurred between generation andtransmission in several regions of the U.S., according to PaulParshley, director of North American Electric Power for CambridgeEnergy Research Associates.

Riding a wave of bullish emotion, natural gas futures continuedhigher Friday despite forecasts of warming weather expected thisweek. After checking lower at $3.03, the November contract receiveda steady boost of buying pressure from commercials and speculatorsthat enabled prices to push above $3.10 in the early afternoon. Butjust when it looked as if the prompt month would finish the weeknear its high, a late round of pre-weekend profit-taking droveprices down to settle at $3.072, a net-0.8 cent advance on the day.