Utility News

Forbes:

Andrew Fastow took his medicine Tuesday. But the prescription isn’t as stiff as some expected — and it’s positively candy-coated compared with Bernard Ebbers’ spoonful.

Fastow, the former finance chief of Enron, was sentenced to six years in prison by a Houston judge.

The ex-CFO had originally faced 98 counts — including fraud, insider trading and money laundering — in the spectacular 2001 implosion of the energy-trading giant. Fastow had pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, accepting ten years in the hoosegow and surrendering some $30 million in assets.

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The New York Times:

Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, announced on Saturday that Russia is prepared to divert up to 45 billion cubic meters of gas a year from the Shtokman gas fields to Europe from its intended destination, the United States. The news, delivered at a trilateral meeting between Mr. Putin and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor and French president, Jacques Chirac, was a surprise, according to Russia’s major newspapers. Even the state-controlled gas company, Gazprom, which controls the Shtokman fields, was not informed of the proposal beforehand, according to an unnamed source close to the company quoted by Vedomosti.

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Dallas Morning News via PEI:

Exelon chief executive John Rowe said in a news report during the weekend that he’s still shopping and that he’s most interested in power-generation assets, particularly nuclear power plants.

An Exelon spokeswoman confirmed that company executives have discussed a deal with TXU. The idea wasn’t necessarily to merge but possibly to swap generation capacity, or to strike a deal for Exelon to own or manage TXU’s nuclear assets.

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Reuters via MSN:

U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed the agency approve AT&T Inc.’s acquisition of BellSouth Corp. without any conditions, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Martin circulated the initial proposal late Thursday with a goal for the agency to vote at its monthly open meeting currently scheduled for October 12, these sources said, declining further identification because the deliberations are secret.

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Las Vegas Sun:

Illinois’ lieutenant governor is urging people to mail tea bags to two electric utilities to protest rate increases - an idea that leaves the post office cold…

On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn urged residents of his state to include tea bags with their electric bills in the spirit of the Boston Tea Party. After the post office objected, Quinn’s office said ratepayers could send just a picture of a tea bag.

Utility officials announced last week that electricity rates next year will increase an average of about 22 percent for ComEd customers and 40 percent to 55 percent for customers of St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. ComEd, a division of Chicago-based Exelon Corp., and Ameren together serve 4.9 million customers in Illinois.

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The News & Observer (NC):

Five public interest groups are asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend the operating license of Progress Energy’s Shearon Harris plant or levy hefty fines until the plant fixes longstanding flaws in fire safety systems.

A petition — filed Wednesday by the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and two other groups — contends that the violations make the plant unsafe. The groups demand that regulators take an emergency action — either shut down the plant or fine it $130,000 a day per violation.

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Triangle Business Journal:

Duke Energy Corp. is asking the North Carolina Utilities Commission in Raleigh to allow it to increase utility rates to cover the costs of building a proposed nuclear plant in Cherokee County, S.C.

Approval would mark a major change in the Carolinas, where utilities have been required to put a plant in operation before recovering the expense. That approach, Duke Chief Executive Jim Rogers has said, would put too much strain on Duke, particularly in building a nuclear plant that could take a decade to complete.

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MarketWatch:

Natural-gas futures fell Thursday, sending the October contract to a close at its lowest level in two-and-a-half years after a U.S. government report showed that supplies of the fuel were at a more than comfortable level — 13% above a year ago…

Natural gas for October delivery fell by 15 cents, or 3%, to close $4.781 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange after reaching a low of $4.60, the weakest level the contract has seen since February 2004.

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U.S. Water News:

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Recycling treated wastewater to irrigate a golf course could save up to 300,000 gallons of drinking water daily during the summer and reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer going into the Piscataqua River, said city engineer Peter Rice….

Reclaimed water has been used for irrigation to preserve scarce drinking water supplies in the southern and western parts of the country for more than 40 years. The study by Camp, Dresser & McKee Inc. noted that cost is one reason the concept has not been embraced in New England.

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Peak Oil News:

An analysis of nuclear reactors by a safety group has found that they are prone to costly, lengthy shutdowns for safety problems regardless of their age or the experience of their managers. The finding could have implications for companies considering building new reactors.

That’s not deterring builders:

The United States has offered billions of dollars in incentives to jump start investment in new nuclear power reactors, creating a race for the cash among potential builders.

With a federal law allowing builders to save hundreds of millions of dollars in debt financing costs by borrowing money at low rates, several companies are preparing applications to build the next generation of reactors.

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