Utility

The natural gas industry’s views on whether FERC should continue to waive price caps on short-term capacity release transactions beyond the Sept. 30 expiration deadline are, at best, mixed so far. But customers in the West are adamant — they want price caps, at least in some limited form, reinstated in markets served by El Paso Natural Gas and Northwest Pipeline.

The natural gas industry’s views on whether FERC should continue to waive price caps on short-term capacity release transactions beyond the Sept. 30 expiration deadline are, at best, mixed so far. But customers in the West are adamant — they want price caps, at least in some limited form, reinstated in markets served by El Paso Natural Gas and Northwest Pipeline.

Staff at the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) has put Enron Power Marketing Inc. (EPMI) on notice that it will seek just over $7 million in an administrative penalty for what staff charges is EPMI’s “illegal and anti-competitive” conduct in the state’s power markets through the overscheduling of load.

Texas consumer groups filed a petition with the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) Thursday asking for an investigation of NewPower’s financial status. Because of its sagging financial health, NewPower announced it would no longer sign up new customers from Texas and other parts of the country, but instead concentrate on its current ones. NewPower is the state’s leading retail provider of customers that switched from incumbent utilities after Texas deregulated January 1. It currently has more than 70,000 of the 200,000 Texas customers who have switched.

Staff at the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) has scheduled a workshop for early next month related to staff’s ongoing probe into the overscheduling of power requirements in the Texas wholesale energy market during the early stages of the state’s retail electricity pilot program last summer.

New York City utility owner Consolidated Edison Inc. saw first quarter earnings fall 6.9% after one of the warmest winters in the Northeast on record coupled with weak economic conditions. Net income was $166.6 million ($0.78 a share), compared with earnings of $179.1 million ( $0.84) for the first quarter of 2001. Analysts had expected quarterly earnings of 80 cents. Revenue also fell, dropping 27% to $2.1 billion from $2.89 billion for the same period a year ago.

While electric utility attorneys are disappointed in the decision last week by a federal appeals court supporting the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set stringent new emission control standards for particulate matter and ozone, they pointed out it will be several years, and possibly more, before rules can be promulgated and enforced.

Staff at the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) is considering a recommendation to penalize six power companies for overscheduling power requirements in the Texas wholesale energy market during the early stages of the state’s retail electricity pilot program last summer.

NorthWestern Corp. has renamed its Montana Power unit NorthWestern Energy. Northwestern completed its purchase of Montana Power earlier this year and will combine all of its utility businesses in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska under the new company.