Utility

National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners is expected to vote Wednesday to ratify a resolution approved by its gas committee and board of directors earlier in the week, calling on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its recent decision removing the five-year cap that limited the length of contract term that an existing shipper must match in order renew an expiring pipeline contract under the right-of-first-refusal (ROFR) process (see Daily GPI, Oct. 31).

Southern Co., which had the foresight to spin off its marketing operations over a year ago and plod along as an unglamorous utility, was the one sporting the positive results Wednesday, reporting third quarter earnings up 5% this year over last at $595 million, or 84 cents per share. At the same time TXU Corp., which expanded marketing operations to the Continent, has lost its sparkle, settling for 73 cents/share earnings in the quarter or $206 million, off 38% from 3Q 2001.

San Francisco-based PG&E Corp. tossed aside the current financial struggles of both its regulated and merchant lines of business , announcing Thursday that it is a charter member of a new private-sector nonprofit, the California Climate Action Registry, a state-created voluntary registry for greenhouse gas emissions. All of PG&E’s businesses will report their greenhouse gas emissions associated with the generation, transmission, distribution and storage of natural gas and electricity in California.

Dallas-based TXU Corp. expects to take a write-off of between $3 billion to $4.5 billion on the sale of TXU Europe’s UK assets to Powergen, the German-based utility that agreed to the purchase last week. Powergen, which already has a substantial UK customer base, will pick up 5.3 million natural gas and electric customers and 2.9 gigawatts of production in the United Kingdom for approximately US$2.12 billion and the assumption of $375 million in debt.

Dallas-based TXU Corp. expects to take a write-off of between $3 billion to $4.5 billion on the sale of TXU Europe’s UK assets to Powergen, the German-based utility that agreed to the purchase on Monday.

PPL Corp. will replace a start-up transformer at the 1,100 MW Unit 2 of the utility’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Luzerne County, PA, after a fire hit the transformer last Thursday morning. Company officials said the unit, which was automatically shut down last week when a problem occurred on the non-nuclear side of the plant, will not restart until the damaged transformer is replaced.

In a strikingly similar case facing Pennsylvania regulators, the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUCT) staff wants customer complaints in Texas to be resolved before bankrupt NewPower Co.’s certification as a Retail Electricity Provider (REP) is pulled. Before NewPower declared bankruptcy this spring, the PUCT had received more than 300 customer complaints about the company’s service.

Peoples Energy CEO Thomas M. Patrick said a review by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) of the utility’s purchasing practices last year “will show that the company conducted its business prudently and that none of our practices increased costs to customers.” He added that the case is on a typical procedural schedule that would bring it to conclusion early in 2003.

Even though its energy trading venture turned in a less-than-stellar performance over the past few months, investors shouldn’t take that to mean Entergy Corp. is ready to join the growing list of power companies throwing in the towel on energy trading. When the dust finally settles from the current market upheaval, Entergy CEO Wayne Leonard sees the company’s trading operations as well positioned to take advantage of a “much deeper space” expected in the sector after the current shakeout.