Utility News

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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Forbes.com:

CenturyTel agreed to acquire Embarq, formerly of Sprint Nextel until it spun off in 2006, in a stock swap valued at $5.8 billion. The transaction, however, could be twice as large since the deal includes the assumption of $5.8 billion in debt from Embarq. The deal would give Embarq shareholders 66.0% ownership in the combined company with shareholders receiving 1.37 CenturyTel shares, or $40.42 in CenturyTel stock, for every Embarq share. Embarq’s stock gained 64 cents, or 2.2%, to close Monday’s trading session at $30.38 while shares of CenturyTel lost $3.88, or 13.2%, during the session, closing at $25.62.

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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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