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Market access issues are becoming a major challenge fortransmission and distribution markets, which face unprecedentedgrowth and increased deliveries, and while it’s still unclear as towho will be willing to finance and construct the required newfacilities, a huge capital investment has to be made just to meetdemand, an industry analyst said yesterday.

Atlanta-based Southern Co. upped its service agreements withGeneral Electric Co. to more than $1 billion yesterday aftersigning a multi-year service agreement with its GE Power Systemsunit for $575 million for its new combined-cycle power plants.

The Gas Industry Standards board (GISB) has offered up a planfor a combined natural gas and electric industry standards boardfor discussion among GISB’s own members and electric industryrepresentatives.

Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) has come up with a novel wayof solving its capacity turnback problem with a service providingfirm hourly flexibility, but customers, particularly New EnglandLDCs, aren’t buying it.

The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) announced thatTitan Energy, which was purchased by AES Power Direct, LLC for $6million in cash at the end of July, will be returning an estimated$281,000 in uncashed deposit checks to approximately 6,300 of itsPennsylvania customers in the Columbia Gas and Peoples Natural Gasservice territories (see Daily GPI, July,26).

California’s three principal gas distributors are gearing up fora major customer education program this fall in the face ofincreased wholesale gas prices ranging from 35% to 50%. It hascaused the companies to dust off conservation and low-incomeassistance programs from previous years.

Canada’s National Energy Board has shaved about $2.2 million offof Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline’s requested cost of serviceand cut about $11.6 million out of the pipeline’s requested ratebase. The NEB also altered Maritimes’ plans regarding discounts.

Texaco Inc. has agreed to pay $43 million to settle charges byseveral whistleblowers that the firm underpaid royalties due oncrude oil drilled from federal and Indian leases, The U.S. JusticeDepartment said Wednesday. The settlement covers underpayments fromJanuary 1980 to through December 1998. Two former AtlanticRichfield Co. marketing managers brought the lawsuit in the U.S.District Court in Lufkin, TX, and will receive part of the Texacosettlement. The settlement agreement was signed by representativesof several Indian tribes, as well as the federal government. Thegovernment has reached similar settlements on royalty underpaymentswith Mobil, Occidental Petroleum, Chevron, BP Amoco, Conoco, DevonEnergy, Union Pacific Resources and Sunoco.

Despite the conventional wisdom that there has been a decouplingof natural gas and crude oil prices, ICF Consulting says it isprimarily the close tie between the two commodities under thecurrent circumstances that has been responsible for high naturalgas prices this year.