Utility

Utility CenterPoint Energy Inc. said on Thursday it agreed to sell its natural gas distribution businesses in Arkansas and Oklahoma to Summit Utilities in a $2.15 billion cash deal that could help fund the seller’s transformation strategy. The assets include 17,000 miles of pipelines in Arkansas and Oklahoma, serving more than half a million customers.…

NextEra Energy Inc. is diving into the renewable natural gas (RNG) game with plans to develop a landfill gas capture facility with fuels distributor Opal Fuels LLC. The utility, the self-described world’s largest producer of wind and solar energy, plans to work with Opal to replace an existing power generation facility with a new RNG…

Federal regulators on Thursday suggested tightening up an electric transmission incentives policy designed to stimulate infrastructure development for the nation’s evolving grid. In its regular meeting, FERC approved by a vote of 3-2 a revision to the plan issued in March 2020 (No. RM20-10). In the supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), the Commission suggested…

NW Natural CEO David Anderson used a quarterly earnings conference call on Friday to discuss the importance of the natural gas industry’s move to decarbonize as a way to mitigate climate change. The Portland, OR-based operator plans to be carbon neutral by 2050 in keeping with state mandates, said Anderson, who chairs the American Gas…

Spire Inc., the fifth largest publicly traded natural gas company in the United States, announced it is joining Our Nation’s Energy Future Coalition to help reduce methane emissions to 1% or less by 2025. ONE Future, currently made up of 37 operators working toward the same goal, was originally formed in 2014 to reduce the…

Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources Group Inc. on Thursday reported record 2020 earnings across all of its businesses, including natural gas and power utilities in eight states. CEO David Goodin and senior executives said they expect continued growth in 2021 despite the Covid-19 pandemic as construction materials and services businesses accounted for nearly two-thirds of the…

Southwest Gas Corp. officials said they are confident that natural gas has a bright future in Arizona, supported by a law passed last year to prevent local governments from imposing bans on natural gas in new construction. Arizona’s House Bill 2686, effective last August, prohibits local building permits from restricting natural gas. Lawmakers in Oklahoma,…

UGI Corp. said Monday it would acquire Mountaineer Energy Holdings LLC, which owns the largest natural gas local distribution company (LDC) in West Virginia, for an enterprise value of $540 million, including about $140 million of debt. The acquisition would hand UGI control of Mountaineer Gas Co., a single-state LDC adjacent to UGI’s existing utility…

Wholesale energy trading losses of upward of $128 million pushed Portland General Electric (PGE) into reporting a loss for 3Q2020, but CEO Maria Pope indicated on an earnings conference call that the damage from the losses has been contained to the quarter and there will be no more impact in the months and quarters ahead. …