Utility News

Washington Post:

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo criticized telecommunications company Verizon Communications on Tuesday for “chronically poor” telephone repair service in the state.

Cuomo’s comments come as the No. 2 phone company is trying to convince regulators and consumers that it can offer better service than cable companies. Verizon is expanding its fiber-optic network to offer high-speed Internet and video services, along with phone services, to compete with cable.

Cuomo said he had called on the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC), which regulates Verizon, to set stricter standards and require rebates for inadequate service.

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The Pittsburgh Channel:

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission wants to review the proposed sale of Duquesne Light Holdings to an investment group led by an Australian company.

Macquarie Infrastructure Partners agreed in July to buy Duquesne Light Holdings for three (B) billion dollars.

Duquesne Light Holdings is the parent of the Pittsburgh-based power company Duquesne Light.

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Water Environment Federation:

A regional commission is beginning a long-term study of Northern Virginia’s water supply, analyzing such matters as future demand and contingency plans for droughts and shortages.

The analysis by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission is scheduled to be finished in 2011 and will help determine whether there will be enough water in three decades to meet residential and commercial demands in the Washington suburbs…

The Virginia General Assembly mandated the analysis after severe drought conditions in the region from 1999 to 2002.

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Reuters:

Independent power producer Mirant Corp. said on Monday it was exploring strategic options, including selling itself, pushing up its shares by more than 8 percent.

Mirant, which last year dropped an unsolicited bid to buy rival NRG Energy Inc., said it did not expect the options to include acquiring another company.

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The New York Times:

New York City officials plan to raise rates 11.5 percent on the water that every New Yorker uses, the largest annual increase in 15 years.

The proposed increase, set to go into effect in July if approved, as expected, by the New York City Water Board, would add $72 to the average water and sewer bill for a single-family home in the city. That would bring the average annual residential water bill to $699. Many apartments have water charges built into the rent, and co-ops and condos generally have them included as part of maintenance fees.

The double-digit increase comes several months after officials who run the water system said the city had more than $610 million in unpaid water bills. Uncollected bills have to be taken into account when new rates are calculated.

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Broadcast Newsroom:

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras and the other commissioners unanimously endorse giving the FTC authority over common carriers.

That came in response to a question from Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) at an FTC oversight hearing in the House Energy & Commerce Committee Tuesday, a hearing at which Dorgan urged the FTC to better enforce its regulations.

Majoras said that with communications companies increasingly bundling broadband and traditional phone service, the exemption of FTC oversight from the latter is problematic. With the converging of media, the commissioners agreed the exemption was an anachronism and an artifact of a 70-year-old regulatory regime.

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MarketWatch:

Natural-gas futures rallied after the U.S. Department of Energy said it expected to see natural-gas prices rising 18% over last summer. Natural gas for May delivery was last up 37.5c, or 5%, at a five-week high of $7.921 per million British thermal units.

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The Wall Street Journal (subscription):

With more than $100 billion in deals proposed in the past two years, Europe’s giant utilities have one of the world’s biggest cases of merger mania. Just yesterday two European companies culminated a messy battle and agreed to a $58.27 billion bid for Spain’s Endesa SA.

Behind all the deals is a big collision between Europe’s new push for a unified marketplace and the national pride of Europe’s politicians. Starting July 1, the European Union’s power sector will be officially flung open to competition, allowing utility companies from any of the bloc’s 27 member nations to sell electricity in any other.

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Forbes:

Following months of speculation, the world’s largest natural gas producers are expected to announce the formation of a cartel when they gather in Doha, Qatar, next week for a meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, an informal collective of 14 gas-rich nations.

No one is certain what the new organization will try to achieve, but experts here say it will not be able to set prices like the oil cartel, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It will also not have a significant impact on natural gas prices or production in the United States, they add.

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Hartford Courant:

State regulators, following an investigation into underground electrical explosions in Waterbury, have directed Connecticut Light & Power Co. to replace old electrical equipment in that city and several other communities…

The draft decision released by the DPUC Tuesday found most of CL&P’s response to three explosions downtown since 2001 to be appropriate. The decision affirms CL&P’s commitment to replace much of the electrical grid below downtown’s streets over the next five years.

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