Whether

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission came out divided lastweek on whether regional price caps should be imposed on thewholesale power market in the West. FERC Chairman Curt Hebert andthe Commission staff maintained opposition to price caps, whileCommissioner William Massey came out strongly in favor of some formof temporary regional price caps until permanent solutions to thecurrent crisis can be found.

The cash market made another big surge Monday as traders debatedwhether storage worries or new weather forecasts carried the mostweight in the renewed bullishness. Gains tended to range from abouta quarter to more than a dollar in Transco’s Zone 6 pools in theNortheast. Some production area points were exceeding January indexlevels.

It doesn’t matter whether forecasters predictions of an earlycold winter materialize or not. Under any short-termweather/storage scenario, Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) continues tobe very bullish on the outlook for natural gas prices.

It doesn’t matter whether forecasters’ predictions of an earlycold winter materialize or not. Under any short-termweather/storage scenario, Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) continues tobe very bullish on the outlook for natural gas prices.

The Senate Energy and Commerce Committee debated yesterdaywhether to get themselves off the hook for this summer by enactingstopgap electric reliability legislation or go for the gold of acomprehensive electric restructuring bill.

Whether it was too much holiday turkey or possibly just a postY2K letdown, the natural gas futures market began the year insomewhat of a funk last week as traders showed an unwillingness topush prices very much on either side of unchanged.

Disregarding debate over whether the new millennium has alreadybegun or won’t arrive until nearly a year from now, gas tradersgreeted the year 2000 by sending spot prices moderately lower. Itwas hardly surprising that the January aftermarket would open on adownward trend, a Texas marketer said. “We’ve been wondering whythis market has remained up as much it did. Everything seemsbearish.”

While it remains to be seen whether winter will show up thisyear, gas customer choice programs are very much with the industryright now. Programs in Maryland, Michigan and Washington, DC, areunder way. On the electric side of customer choice, two pilots havejust been kicked off in Texas.

After years of debate and hearings on whether and how torestructure the $200 billion electricity industry, the consensusonce again appears to be – not this year.