Violations

Federal investigators on Monday ordered Reliant Resources Inc. and CenterPoint Energy (formerly Reliant Energy Inc.) to cease violations of the anti-fraud and reporting/recordkeeping requirements of federal securities laws as part of a settlement entered into between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the companies. No penalties were involved.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought civil charges against former Enron Corp. executive Michael J. Kopper Wednesday for violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC charges came on the same day he appeared in a Houston federal courtroom to plead guilty to twin counts of felony conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Kopper, who is expected to be sentenced April 4, 2003 on the felonies, is the first former Enron official to admit any wrongdoing in the accounting scandal.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) believes Dynegy Inc. has violated antifraud and federal securities laws through its involvement in the so-called “Project Alpha” natural gas deal and its round-trip trading activity with CMS Energy. On top of that, Dynegy said bankruptcy may be in its future if its sale of Northern Natural Gas Co. to MidAmerican does not move forward.

American Central Gas Technologies Co. has been awarded $8.3million after an arbitrator ruled that Union Pacific Resources andDuke Energy Field Services had monopolized natural gas processingin Panola County, the largest natural gas producing county in EastTexas.

Electric generation’s growing appetite for natural gas ispropelling rapid changes in the gas industry’s traditional businesspractices that will pose greater challenges to pipeline safety,says the chairman of the INGAA Pipeline Safety Task Force.

The Senate Commerce Committee yesterday voted out pipelinesafety reauthorization legislation that the natural gas pipelineindustry is billing as a “gross overreaction” to an explosionbrought on by a rupture in a products pipeline last June.

After a forced five week layoff because of marketing tacticsviolations, Energy America announced yesterday it is poised tore-enter the New Jersey electricity marketing arena. The SempraEnergy affiliate recently reached an interim agreement with stateofficials that will allow the marketer to continue servingcustomers, pending the signing of a final order.

The U.S. Justice Department has kicked off an investigation intoutility-owned ProLiance Energy LLC for possible antitrustviolations in the Midwest pipeline capacity market. The outcome ofthe probe, as well as a decision by an Indiana appellate court onrelated issues, may have ramifications for other utility-ownedmarketers, sources close to the case say.