Briefly

Md. PSC Approves Nov. 1 Start for Standard Electronic Gas Market Transactions at BGE

The Maryland PSC yesterday approved Baltimore Gas & Electric's tariff filing to implement standard electronic transactions in the gas market, as contained in a working group report, effective November 1. The November 1 effective date will allow BGE to implement the standards for this heating season, and avoid delaying the standards until after the heating season, since BGE did not want to change its system during the heating season. Interstate Gas Supply said that it has been awaiting implementation of uniform electronic transactions in order to enter the BGE gas choice market.

SCANA Energy Seasonal Loss, Customer Count Flat

SCANA Energy, SCANA's retail natural gas marketing business in Georgia, reported a seasonal loss of $3 million in the third quarter of 2010, unchanged compared to the third quarter of 2009. At September 30, 2010, SCANA Energy was serving "more than" 445,000 customers, which SCANA said was an increase of approximately 1 percent over a year earlier, or about 4,000 net customers. As of June 30, 2010, SCANA Energy was serving "approximately" 450,000 customers.

AOBA Alliance Officially Launches PECO Brokering
The AOBA Alliance officially launched its electricity procurement services for commercial customers at PECO. AOBA's Pennsylvania application for a broker license, granted earlier this month (10/15), was first reported by Matters in September (9/6). The AOBA Alliance brokers approximately 600 megawatts of peak electrical load totaling nearly 3 billion kilowatt-hours of annual electricity sales.

Calif. ALJ Allows Comment Period on Latest Peevey Tradable REC Proposal
A California ALJ will allow a supplemental comment period on an agenda decision regarding the use of tradable RECs issued by PUC President Michael Peevey, noting that, with the recent alternate decision issued by Commissioner Dian Grueneich, further delay in deciding the petitions for modification of D.10-03-021 (the REC decision) will occur whether or not additional comment on the Peevey agenda decision is allowed (R. 06-02-012). Pursuant to Pub. Util. Code § 311(e) and Rule 15.1(e), the Peevey agenda decision and Grueneich alternate will appear on the agenda of a Commission business meeting not earlier than December 2, 2010. Electric service providers had sought the additional comment period, noting drastic changes from an earlier draft, including making REC limits on competitive suppliers retroactive. The additional comment period shall only apply to Section 3.9 of the Peevey agenda decision, which relates to application of tradable REC usage and price limits to non-utility RPS obligated retail sellers. The comment period, with initial supplemental comments due November 5, is limited in scope as, "now is not the time for extensive additional comments on the PD [proposed decision], which addresses proposed modifications of a Commission decision issued in March 2010 after more than two years of consideration of issues related to TRECs," the ALJ said.

Conn. Draft Would Approve Acquisition of CNG, SCG by UIL Holdings
A draft Connecticut DPUC decision would approve the acquisition of the Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation and The Southern Connecticut Gas Company by UIL Holdings Corporation from Iberdrola USA, Inc. (Docket 10-07-09).

FERC Rejects TC Ravenswood Tariffs Related to Fuel Oil Cost Recovery
FERC rejected the application of TC Ravenswood, LLC to implement a proposed Minimum Oil Burn Service Cost of Service Recovery Rate Schedule implementing a Variable Cost of Service Recovery Rate, to apply when Ravenswood procures and burns fuel oil delivered to its electric generation facility when required to provide such service (ER10-1359). FERC ruled that because the New York ISO is the sole provider of Market Services, and because the production of wholesale energy by burning fuel oil to comply with NYSRC Rule I-R3 is a Market Service as defined in the Services Tariff, the NYISO Services Tariff bars Ravenswood from proposing its own duplicative rate schedule to provide the same generation service already governed exclusively by the NYISO Services Tariff. FERC's ruling is without prejudice to any action to be taken in Ravenswood's complaint proceeding in Docket No. EL10-70, which is addressing related issues relating to cost recovery when Ravenswood procures and burns fuel oil.

Tres Amigas Enters Agreement to Firm Renewable Energy
Tres Amigas, LLC and Foundation Fuel, LLC said that they have entered into an agreement to jointly develop technical and operational strategies to firm renewable energy sources by deploying gas-fired power as a back-up. Under the terms of the agreement, Foundation Fuel will construct natural-gas-fired turbine generation facilities, along with the pipeline, gas storage and electric transmission facilities needed to connect the generation to natural gas supplies and to deliver electric energy directly to the Tres Amigas superstation, which has been proposed to link the three interconnects. Tres Amigas and Foundation Fuel said that they will coordinate the construction and integration of these new resources with the power dispatch capabilities necessary to provide firm and spot-market opportunities for renewable energy in all three of the U.S. interconnected grids. Tres Amigas and Foundation Fuel said that they will also develop pro-forma contracts that will streamline power transactions for renewable energy providers, power "firming" entities, and customers in order to allow utilities and other purchasers of renewable power to contract directly from one source on a long-term basis.