Edison International's electric utility subsidiary Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) said it will continue deferral of the quarterly dividends on SCE's 4.08%, 4.24%, and 4.78% series of cumulative preferred stock payable Feb. 28, 2001. SCE also will defer payment of quarterly dividends on the 4.32% series of cumulative preferred stock, and the 6.05% and 6.45% series of $100 cumulative preferred stock, normally payable March 31.
FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., a unit of FirstEnergy Corp., said the Perry nuclear plant will begin its regularly scheduled refueling Feb. 17, 2001. The work will include replacing a turbine rotor, the final step to increase the plant's output 5% to 1,320/Mw-hr. The plant is scheduled to return to service in late March. Since its last refueling in May 1999, Perry has operated 644 out of 655 days, yielding a 98.2% availability factor.
The Utah Public Service Commission (PSC) has scheduled an emergency hearing Feb. 22 on a complaint by Western Electrochemical Co. (WECCO), a unit of American Pacific Corp., that PacifiCorp, a unit of Scottish Power PLC, has charged unjust, unreasonable, and discriminatory electric rates. The complaint is the result of a December 2000, electric bill from Utah Power, owned by PacifiCorp, that WECCO says was 600% higher than it paid a year earlier. WECCO also asserts is has been overcharged some $2.6 million since January 1999, for electricity at its plant near Cedar City, Utah. WECCO contends that PacifiCorp has curtailed 10 Mw of interruptible power, without providing sufficient notification of interruption, used WECCO's power to fulfill the utility's commitments to its wholesale customers, and then sold back to WECCO higher-cost replacement power.
Northern Border Partners LP said it executed a definitive agreement to purchase the 87 MMcfd Mazeppa sour gas processing plant, near Calgary, Alta., and a minority interest in the Gregg Lake/Obed Pipeline from Dynegy Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Dynegy Inc. The purchase is expected to close during the first quarter of 2001, subject to various approvals. The Gregg Lake/Obed Pipeline system is comprised of 85 miles of gathering lines with a capacity of 150 MMcfd. The pipeline is west of Edmonton, Alta.
An Administrative Law Judge moved up to July the Louisiana Public Service Commission's scheduled hearings on Entergy Corp.'s merger with the FPL Group Inc., reversing an earlier judgment and putting the proposal back on its original 15-month timetable. Entergy and FPL Group announced their plans to combine in a merger of equals on July 31, 2000. Hearings before the Mississippi Public Service Commission are scheduled to begin in March 2001. A procedural schedule is expected to be issued by the Public Utility Commission of Texas shortly.
In a 6 to 1 vote, the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee recommended that Salt River Project be granted a certificate of environmental compatibility for its 825 Mw Santan expansion project in Gilbert, Ariz. The company has operated a 300 Mw natural gas generating station at the site since the mid-1970s.
Bass Hotels & Resorts, a unit of Bass PLC, has signed a 3-year, $100 million-plus energy management contract with TXU Energy Services, a unit of TXU Corp. The contract covers 118 Bass Hotels & Resorts, representing over 34,000 rooms and substantially all of the Bass Hotels & Resorts company owned and managed properties throughout the US and Canada.
