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Dynegydirect, the B2B portal and trading site launched by Houston-based Dynegy Inc. that began trading Nov. 1, announced it had exceeded $1.5 billion in online notional transactions by early last week, with more than $1 billion of the energy and communications commodity transactions generated by new customers. The site now has more than 400 registered users (see NGI, Oct. 23).

With the Supreme Court last week effectively handing the keys tothe White House to now President-elect George W. Bush, speculationhas escalated in Washington D.C. over who will be tapped as thenext FERC chairman under a Republican administration.

New York Assemblyman Robin L. Schimminger is trying to convincethe state to open an investigation into the bankruptcy of IroquoisEnergy Management LLC, which left approximately 19,000 residentialnatural gas customers with an estimated $1.8 million out-of-pocketloss due to non-refunded pre-payments.

Although natural gas stocks are below the five-year average,Energy Information Administration (EIA) and industry officials tolda Senate committee last week that the nation was not facing asupply crisis of a magnitude that could leave some customerswithout gas this winter.

Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. (Tetco) is holding open seasonthrough Jan. 12 for a pipeline expansion in its M3 market area inthe Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The project will combine existingunsubscribed capacity with incremental firm capacity to create alow-cost expansion option for Texas Eastern shippers, the pipelinesaid.

The New York State Public Service Commission last week approved several items that it says will ultimately benefit consumers, including a request to transfer ownership of two electricity generating facilities in the state and two items that would give refunds to natural gas customers this winter. PSC approved a joint request from Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corp., Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc., Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. and Dynegy Power Corp. to transfer ownership of the Danskammer and Roseton electricity generating facilities near Newburgh, NY to Dynegy for $903 million. Net proceeds from the sale, which will amount to about $364 million after deductions, would be used to benefit ratepayers of the three utilities involved. Danskammer and Roseton are fossil-fueled generating plants located adjacent to each other on the Hudson River. Danskammer is capable of generating 500 MW of electricity; Roseton is capable of producing 1,200 MW. NYPSC also approved an interim natural gas service plan to continue the competitive restructuring efforts of two New York downstate natural gas distribution companies, KeySpan Energy Delivery New York and KeySpan Energy Delivery Long Island. The interim plan, in effect from Jan. 1, 2001 through June 30, 2001, maintains current rates for delivery service and provides customers with a one-time winter bill credit if the costs of purchasing gas for customers in December exceed a predetermined price threshold. The commission also approved plans by Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. and Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. to accelerate refunds this winter to natural gas customers totaling $14.1 million for Niagara Mohawk and $5.7 million for Rochester Gas. Con Ed also was granted a delay on a gas surcharge until after the winter season and the commission approved another request by Niagara Mohawk to provide $110 in bill credits this winter to eligible low-income customers who heat with natural gas.

Unable to find a suitable generation partner for its high flying trading arm, UtiliCorp United Inc. instead will hold an initial public offering for a portion of subsidiary Aquila Energy Corp. and then spin off the remaining shares next year to its shareholders in a tax-free distribution. The result will be two stand-alone publicly traded companies, both based in Kansas City.

As California kept its string of Stage One and Two power alertsgoing through most of last week, the plot in its now six-month-olddrama thickened with an endless array of actors and subplots.Without a break for intermission, the spotlight shifted to federalofficials in Washington, DC, late in the week for the second act ofsteps that might bring some order to the chaotic western wholesaleelectricity market covering about a dozen states.

Cinergy Corp. yesterday reported that its non-regulated affiliate, Cinergy Capital & Trading, is in the process of adding almost 1,000 MW of electricity to its generating portfolio in the southeastern United States through an acquisition of two of Enron North America’s power plants.