utilities

Both Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) were claiming victory Friday, after a federal judge presiding over the utility’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding rejected a blanket federal legal preemption of state laws as they relate to the company’s reorganization plan. While the CPUC sees the decision as sinking the plan, PG&E reads it as simply requiring it to get more specific about what state laws should be preempted by federal jurisdiction in order to put its plan into effect.

Ringing in the new year with a natural gas rate cut, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) issued orders Wednesday on a number of PSE&G filings, which have the combined effect of reducing rates for the company’s typical residential gas heating customers (who use an average of 200 therms in the winter and 1,252 therms annually) by 3.3%.

When former Enron de Mexico President Max Yzaguirre was appointed to chair the Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) last June, critics charged that his affiliation with his former employer would cause a conflict of interest. Now that Enron Corp. has declared bankruptcy, Yzaguirre’s appointment has come under even more fire, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s office in the middle of another controversy.

When former Enron de Mexico President Max Yzaguirre was appointed to chair the Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) last June (see Daily GPI, June 15, 2001), critics charged that his affiliation with his former employer would cause a conflict of interest. Now that Enron Corp. has declared bankruptcy, Yzaguirre’s appointment has come under even more fire, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s office in the middle of another controversy.

One of Sempra Energy’s two major utilities, Los Angeles-based Southern California Gas Co., is being targeted for five years of back overtime pay in a “proposed class action lawsuit,” according to a filing last week in state superior court in Los Angeles on behalf of 500 hourly employees that two law firms seek to represent.

One of Sempra Energy’s two major utilities, Los Angeles-based Southern California Gas Co. is being targeted for five years of back overtime pay in a “proposed class action lawsuit,” according to two law firms filing the suit last week in state superior court in Los Angeles on behalf of 500 hourly employees they seek to represent.

BC Gas Utility Ltd. has applied to the BC Utilities Commission for a 10% reduction in the commodity charge for natural gas to take effect Jan. 1, 2002. Vancouver-based BC Gas last reduced its commodity charge on Oct. 1 when the BCUC approved a reduction that saw customers’ bills decrease by approximately 11%.

Precipitated by the fall of two California utilities and Enron Corp., Moody’s Investors Service said Friday it will increase its global analytical focus on the credit risk implications of “rating triggers” written into a borrower’s debt securities or other contracts because they may cause unintended and “highly disruptive consequences” for both borrowers and lenders. In some cases, warned Moody’s the rating triggers could lead to “mutually assured destruction” including defaults and bankruptcies.

Ohio retail gas marketers will have to undergo new regulatory scrutiny, according to rules adopted by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio last week. Under the rules all retail marketers will have to file balance sheets, credit ratings and other relevant financial information among other requirements in order to obtain certification by the PUCO. Up to this point, retail marketers have been allowed to operate without certification.