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Traders sweating out the warm winter and wondering how they’regoing to get rid of surplus storage can take heart from a newanalysts report that sees 27,000 MW of natural gas-fired powergeneration capacity being added in the next 12 months.

UtiliCorp United has announced that Robert K. Green, itspresident and chief operating officer, will take on the added roleof chairman of Aquila Energy and Keith Stamm, chief executiveofficer of the Australian utility United Energy, will becomeAquila’s CEO. Ed Mills will continue as president and chiefoperating officer of Aquila, the position he has held since 1998.

The New York Mercantile Exchange’s electricity futures contractsfailed to take off for a number of reasons but the market is worseoff because of their failure, according to Jack Cogen, president ofNew York City-based NatSource.

California regulators this week are slated to take a criticalstep in eventually opening the natural gas industry to morecompetition when they decide whether to follow staffrecommendations and push for a natural gas consumer protection lawwhen the state legislature reconvenes next month. Staff at theCalifornia Public Utilities Commission are asking the five-memberregulatory body to adopt a proposed consumer protection bill. Thisis in response to the state legislature, which has openly expressedconcerns about unbundling natural gas to the same degree as thestate’s electric industry because of customer and public safetyissues related to the distribution and use of gas.

California regulators this week (Dec. 16) are slated to take acritical step in eventually opening the natural gas industry tomore competition when they decide whether to follow staffrecommendations and push for a natural gas consumer protection lawwhen the state legislature reconvenes next month. Staff at theCalifornia Public Utilities Commission are asking the five-memberregulatory body to adopt a proposed consumer protection bill thatwas outlined last August as part of a report to the statelegislature, which has openly expressed concerns about unbundlingnatural gas to the same degree as the state’s electric industrybecause of customer and public safety issues related to thedistribution and use of gas.

El Paso will take the Dutch Flat #1 turbine down for maintenanceDec. 20-22, reducing Havasu Crossover capacity by 40 MMcf/d.

During the Oct. 29-31 period, PG&E GT-Northwest will takethe Stanfield (OR) Meter Station out of service to completemodifications requested by Northwest Pipeline to meet expandingdemand of 130,000 Dth. Physical deliveries to Northwest will belimited to 200 MMcf/d through an emergency intertie. There will beno net physical receipts into PG&E GT-NW. Capacity allocationswill be based on service priority.

California, the trend-setter in electric restructuring, isexpected to take it to the next level with a “decision-making”investigation starting this fall on distributed generation and themonster issue lurking behind it — the sacrosanct localdistribution franchises.

California, the trend-setter in electric restructuring, isexpected to take it to the next level with a “decision-making”investigation starting this fall on distributed generation and themonster issue lurking behind it – the sacrosanct local distributionfranchises.