Suffered

Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric(PG&E) suffered a major blow Wednesday when FERC deniedproposals to relax the creditworthy standards for the utility powerpurchases from third-party suppliers.

NiSource suffered two significant setbacks last week in itsbattle for a $5.7 billion hostile takeover of Columbia EnergyGroup, but the company vowed to continue its pursuit of Columbia.

PG&E Corp. suffered an 11% net earnings loss for the thirdquarter, reporting earnings of 55 cents per share ($210 million),compared with 62 cents per share ($257 million) for 3Q97. Thecompany attributed the majority of the decline to utilitysubsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric’s pending 1999 general ratecase and a change in the way revenues are recorded as a result ofthe deregulation of California’s electric industry. The utilitysubsidiary is earning below its authorized rate of return, a trendthat is expected to continue until the rate case is resolved earlynext year.

PG&E Corp. said second quarter earnings suffered because ofcosts associated with electric restructuring and its sale ofAustralian assets to Duke Energy. The company reported earnings of46 cents per share, compared to 49 cents per share for thecorresponding quarter in 1997, and net income of $174 million,compared with $193 million in 2Q97. A lower rate of exchangebetween the Australian and U.S. dollar resulted in a six-centcharge taken during the second quarter, PG&E said.

The May futures contract suffered a third straight day of lossesby slipping a mere 0.6-cents to settle at $2.469 in relativelyquiet trading. The session was marked by light selling as bearsprobed for sell-stops but was kept in check by buying ahead of the2.435-.440 level. A modest 31,695 contracts changed hands in asession that saw no new fundamental developments.