Submitting

The Committee of Chief Risk Officers (CCRO) says it expects to have new guidelines in place by the end of January for companies submitting data to energy pricing publications and for the publications themselves. At a meeting Wednesday in Houston, a technical working group made up of members of CCRO companies and representatives of pricing publications “moved in the right direction,” according to Mike Smith, the CCRO’s executive director.

Under indictment for fraud, conspiracy and submitting false documents to a federally insured bank in Topeka, KS, David C. Wittig, chairman and CEO of Westar Energy Inc. resigned last week, two weeks after being put on unpaid administrative leave (see Power Market Today, Nov. 15; Nov. 8).

Under indictment for fraud, conspiracy and submitting false documents to a federally insured bank in Topeka, KS, David C. Wittig, chairman and CEO of Westar Energy Inc. resigned over the weekend, two weeks after being put on unpaid administrative leave (see Power Market Today, Nov. 15; Nov. 8).

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has accused the Bush administration of submitting altered data to Congress to minimize the environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing in oil and natural gas production.

FirstEnergy Corp. and GPU Inc. took a giant step forward intheir merger plans last week, submitting applications for approvalto the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the New Jersey Boardof Public Utilities and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.Still to come will be approval by each company’s shareholders inspecial meetings set for Nov. 21.