Utility News

MarketWatch:

Three prominent power providers saw their shares rise on Tuesday, with a 7.4% jump for FirstEnergy Corp. leading the way after the company posted a higher third-quarter profit and raised its outlook for the full year.

NiSource Inc. and Ameren Corp. logged gains as well, while Pinnacle West Capital Corp. gave up early advances to close lower.

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LA Times:

Geothermal energy may be the most prolific renewable fuel source that most people have never heard of. Although the supply is virtually limitless, the massive upfront costs required to extract it have long rendered geothermal a novelty. But that’s changing fast as this old-line industry buzzes with activity after decades of stagnation.

Billionaire Warren E. Buffett has invested big. Internet giant Google Inc. is bankrolling advanced research. Entrepreneurs are paying record prices for drilling leases in places such as Nevada, where they’re prospecting for heat instead of metals.

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Wall Street Journal (subscription):

Utilities are becoming more aggressive about collecting money from delinquent customers, leading to a surge in service shutdowns just as economic woes are pushing up the number of households falling behind on bills.

The utilities say they are under pressure to clean out accounts that are weighing down their books at a time when their stocks are being hammered and earnings growth has slowed.

Meanwhile, the increasing number of homes left without power — which could rise as economic pain deepens — is beginning to worry some consumer advocates and regulators.

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Financial Times (London):

The credit crisis has cut off much-needed financing for the US power sector, which equity investors have abandoned en masse, setting the stage for a string of mergers or bankruptcy filings.

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L.A. Times:

In a campaign appearance in Marietta, Ohio, Sarah Palin criticized comments made early this year by Barack Obama — which surfaced Sunday in an audiotape posted on YouTube — in which the Democratic presidential candidate discusses how his proposed emissions policy would affect the coal industry.

“He said that, sure, if the industry wants to build new coal-fired plants, then they can go ahead and try . . . but they can do it only in a way that will bankrupt the coal industry, and he’s comfortable letting that happen,” the GOP vice presidential nominee told 4,800 supporters at Marietta College, located not far from Ohio’s border with West Virginia, a major coal-producing state…

The Obama campaign called the tape “wildly edited” to take the candidate’s remarks out of context.

“The point Obama is making is that we need to transition from coal-burning power plants built with old technology to plants built with advanced technologies — and that is exactly the action that will be incentivized under a cap-and-trade program,” the campaign said in a statement.

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The Boston Globe:

A subsidiary of Dominion power company is offering thousands of Massachusetts utility customers a modest deal: the chance to lock in their electricity-supply charges for the next three years.

The charge typically makes up more than half of an average utility bill.

Depending on which utility a residential customer uses - National Grid, NStar, or Western Massachusetts Electric - those who opt into the Dominion program would, on average, save between $1.49 and $4.32 a month, based on the difference between Dominion’s offer and the utilities’ current supply charges. Customers would still be billed for the charge through their regular utility, which also bills for electricity distribution and transmission costs.

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The New York Times:

The Exelon Corporation, the Chicago-based utility, said late Sunday that it had offered to buy NRG Energy, a power generator based in Princeton, N.J., for $6.2 billion.

A combined company would produce enough electricity to serve nearly half the households in the United States, Exelon said.

Exelon, one of the nation’s largest electric companies that covers a broad swath of the Midwest and Middle Atlantic states, combines the assets of Commonwealth Edison and Philadelphia Electric. Its unsolicited, all-stock offer for NRG is a 37 percent premium over the closing price last Friday, Exelon said.

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Pocono Record:

A proposed high-voltage power line that would pass through part of the Poconos is generating increasing opposition across the river.

The line would cut through Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area near Bushkill.

Driven by a wide variety of concerns, from health to environmental to just not getting enough information, groups have sprung up along the nearly 50-mile route of a proposed power line through northern New Jersey.

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Times Leader (PA):

A steady decline in the price of natural gas since June is no guarantee consumers will pay less to heat their homes this winter, warned energy officials.

Instead, the federal Energy Information Administration predicted higher home heating costs nationwide and the Northeast leading other regions with an 18.8 percent increase over last season.

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WTAJ (Altoona, PA):

The slowing national economy will pay off for consumers in this one way. Natural Gas heating bills may be lower than expected. A number of natural gas suppliers are cutting their rates….

These gas prices are falling because the cost of natural gas generally follows the price of oil on the international markets. And as the price of petroleum has fallen, the price of natural gas is also going down. While gas rates are now lower than they have been for the last couple of months, rates are still higher than they were last year at this time. But the increase is not as drastic has had been predicted before the recent drop in international markets.

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