NGI The Weekly Gas Market Report

Oklahoma’s record winter heating costs last season were caused by inadequate planning by Oklahoma Natural Gas Co., and thus customers should get some of their money back, according to witnesses testifying last week before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC). The Commission is looking into charges that ONG did not adequately prepare for the last winter season, which caused rates to escalate.

©Copyright, 2001 Intelligence Press. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may Not be republished Or redistributed, in wholeOr in part, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press .

The Broward County (FL) Commission last week gave the green light to a proposal that would impose an 11-month moratorium on the construction of new power plants in the county, but it remains unclear whether the temporary ban will face a challenge in the courts. Dennis Myers, a spokesperson for the commission, told NGI that the panel signed off on the moratorium by a vote of 8-0 in favor, with one commissioner abstaining.

Hotter than normal temperatures should prevail through the heavily populated Northeast for the rest of the summer and into the fall, according to an updated weather forecast released last week by Weather Services International (WSI). The latest forecast backs up one issued in April by Salomon Smith Barney meteorologist Jon Davis, who predicts a chance of heat waves in the Northeast and on the West Coast.

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service has scheduled public hearings on its draft environmental impact statement that covers delineation drilling proposed for undeveloped leases offshore Santa Barbara County, CA. The draft EIS evaluates impacts of proposed drilling on four undeveloped Outer Continental Shelf units.

While indicating a majority will back suspension of the state’s retail direct access, California regulators last Wednesday indicated they will delay taking action on the controversial measure until July 3 at the request of the state Assembly speaker, who is looking at some legislative options that involve the retail customer choice issue. That is the latest the decision can be held off without beginning to impede the current schedule for the state’s upcoming long-term electricity bond issue, according to Loretta Lynch, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

©Copyright, 2001 Intelligence Press. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may Not be republished Or redistributed, in wholeOr in part, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press .

Less than half of the electric power plants now in development in the United States are likely to be completed, according to an analysis of electricity and natural gas supply and demand by an energy analyst with the Williams Capital Group LP, a New York-based investment bank.

FERC last week directed its senior staff to hold informal discussions with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) in response to the PSC’s concerns about the development of GridFlorida, a regional transmission organization (RTO). The PSC concerns focus on state and federal jurisdictional boundaries and responsibilities and the recovery of start-up costs for the RTO.