Please save the date for NEM's Fall Leadership Roundtable. The meeting will take place October 28-29, 2008, and will be hosted by IDT Energy at their offices located at 520 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey. NYPSC Chairman Garry Brown, NYPSC Commissioner Robert Curry, NJBPU Commissioner Nicholas Asselta, NJBPU Commissioner Frederick Butler and NYPSC Staff are confirmed to participate. Eric Matheson, Energy Advisor to Pennsylvania PUC Chairman Cawley, is confirmed to attend. Delaware State Senator Harris McDowell will also attend. Angelina LaRose, Office of Oil and Gas/Energy Information Administration, will also participate. A Revised Draft Agenda is available at this hotlink. Please register at this hotlink. Special room rates have been arranged at the Hampton Inn Suites River Walk Hotel in Harrison, NJ. Hotel accommodations at the preferred $119.00 rate are being coordinated by IDT. Please call (973) 438-4531 to arrange your hotel reservation.

NEM's Winter Executive Committee Meeting will be held at Infinite Energy/Intelligent Energy headquarters at 7001 SW 24th Avenue in Gainesville, Florida. The meeting will take place January 20-21, 2009. Please register at this hotlink. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center at 1714 SW 34th Street, Gainesville, Florida at a rate of $139 per night. Contact 352-371-3600 for reservations.

NEM's 12th Annual Global Energy Forum & Membership Meeting will be held April 28 & 29, 2009. The meeting will be held at the Embassy Suites Washington D.C. - Convention Center located at 900 10th Street, NW, Washington, DC. Please register at this hotlink. A block of rooms has been reserved for NEM members at the rate of $279 per night. Contact 202-719-1421 for reservations.

The National Energy Marketers Association (NEM) is pleased to announce that Metromedia Energy (MME) has been nominated to NEM's Executive Committee. Metromedia Energy (MME) is one of the largest and most experienced marketers in the competitive energy industry. MME is an independent energy marketer and not affiliated with any utility or energy wholesaler. MME's mission is to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction for the lowest cost and save its customers unnecessarily high utility costs. Metromedia Energy (MME) serves over 20,000 commercial natural gas and power customers including many of the Fortune 500. MME provides service for its customers from coast to coast, however its primary focus is the Northeastern United States. Metromedia Energy (MME) will be represented within NEM by Jonathan Morris, Anthony Fornoratto, and Gordon Pozza.

FTC will convene a public workshop to discuss the scope of the prohibition of "unfair methods of competition" set forth in Section 5 of the FTC Act. The workshop will take place on October 17, 2008, in the Conference Center of the FTC's Washington offices. FTC notes Supreme Court precedent finding that Section 5 reaches to broader categories of conduct than that prohibited under the Sherman Act, although the precise reach of Section 5 is subject to debate. The workshop will focus on three topics: "1) the history of Section 5, including Congress's enactment, the FTC's enforcement, and the courts' response; 2) the range of possible interpretations of Section 5; and 3) examples of business conduct that may be unfair methods of competition addressable by Section 5." Comments on these issues will be accepted through October 24, 2008. FTC has released a detailed Workshop Agenda (available at this hotlink).

FERC and NARUC have requested industry stakeholder comments on the the study of competitive procurement practices produced as part of the NARUC/FERC Competitive Procurement Collaborative. The study, entitled “Competitive Procurement of Retail Electricity Supply: Recent Trends in State Policies and Utility Practices” was issued in July 2008. It reviewed state and utility procurement practices across the country and suggested criteria for evaluating competitive procurements. These criteria include:
1) The procurement process should be fair and objective;
2) The procurement should be designed to encourage a robust competitive response and creative offerings from market participants;
3) The procurement should select winning offers based on appropriate evaluation of all relevant price and non-price factors;
4) The procurement should be conducted in an efficient and timely manner; and
5) When using a competitive procurement process, regulators should align their own procedures and actions to support the development of a competitive response.

Comments on the study are due October 20, 2008, for consideration at the November 18th meeting of the Collaborative. The full texts of the Competitive Procurement Study and Request for Comments are available on the NEM Website.

FERC announced that it will convene a conference focused on natural gas demand and supply issues as they relate to the development of the domestic natural gas industry and the effect upon infrastructure. The conference will be held November 21, 2008, from 9:30AM to 12:30PM at the Commission's Washington headquarters. Additional details and an agenda will be forthcoming. The full text of the Notice of Public Conference is available on the NEM Website.