Please mark your calendars for April 24-25, 2007, for NEM's Tenth Annual Global Energy Forum and Membership Meeting. The meeting will be held in Washington, DC at the Marriott Metro Center. Those confirmed to participate include: U.S. Senator Richard Burr, U.S. Congressman Edward Markey, U.S. Congressman Steve Buyer, U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy, FERC Commissioners Marc Spitzer and Jon Wellinghoff, Delaware Senate Majority Leader Harris McDowell, Georgia PSC Chair Stan Wise, Ohio PUC Chair Alan Schriber, Pennsylvania PUC Energy Advisor Eric Matheson, and MCI Founder Jack Goeken.

Please use the hotlink below to view the agenda and to register: http://www.energymarketers.com/agenda/2007/April07Agenda.htm

Please note that the early bird registration discount is in effect through April 13, 2007. The NEM preferred rate at the Marriott Metro Center for hotel accommodations expires on April 10, 2007.

EIA released its annual report on Residential Natural Gas Choice Programs. EIA finds that in 2006, choice enrollment increased for the first time since 2003. Approximately 4.2 million (12%) of the 35 million residential natural gas customers eligible for choice migrated to marketer service. Significant findings in the report include: 1) enrollment in residential choice programs increased 8% from 2005 and 6% from 2004, and Ohio (211,000 enrollment gain) and New York (55,000 enrollment gain) accounted for the largest increases; 2) customer participation percentages increased or remained the same in all states except five, reflecting the continued evaluation and refinement of the choice programs; and 3) the number of marketers offering residential service increased or remained the same in all states except Maryland (although the overall total was about the same as 2005). The full text of EIA's Report on Residential Natural Gas Choice Programs is available at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/restructure/state/us.html

FTC will convene a public conference on "Energy Markets in the 21st Century: Competition Policy in Perspective." The conference will take place from April 10-12, 2007, in Washington, DC. The conference will examine a wide array of issues including: lessons learned from the 1970s energy crisis; how energy markets work within the framework of government policy choices; the history of electric power restructuring; debates about effects of restructuring such as post rate cap price volatility, generation and transmission building incentives, and successful restructuring models; new technological frontiers; consumers and price signals; implications of the world energy situation for U.S. energy supplies; vulnerability to energy supply and demand shocks; and the state of our electric power transmission and distribution systems. The full text of the FTC Conference Agenda is available on the NEM Website.

An industry meeting will be convened at the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, DC to discuss development of demand side management (DSM)/energy efficiency (EE) business practices through the NAESB process. The meeting will be held April 11, 2007, from 10AM to 4PM. NAESB received a request to develop national DSM/EE standards for both the electric and natural gas industries. The effort is intended to "promote a standardized method for quantifying benefits, savings, cost avoidance and/or the reduction in energy demand and usage derived from the implementation of demand side management and energy efficiency programs, through the development of model business practices." Further information is available on the NAESB Website: http://www.naesb.org/dsm-ee.asp

FTC issued a complaint pertaining to Equitable's acquisition of Dominion. Equitable and Dominion entered into a $970 million stock acquisition agreement in March 2006. FTC is concerned about the potential impact of the acquisition on natural gas distribution competition. Currently, Equitable competes with Dominion, Columbia Gas and T.W. Phillips for distribution customers. The FTC complaint stated that the acquisition "may substantially lessen competition" by eliminating competition between Equitable and Dominion for gas distribution, "by increasing the likelihood, or faciliating, collusion or coordinated interaction between the combined Equitable and Peoples and other providers of local distribution of natural gas in the relevant markets," and increasing the likelihood that the combined company will "unilaterally exercise market power" in gas distribution. Potential remedies that FTC can utilize include preventing Equitable's acquisition of Dominion, divestiture, prohibiting transactions that combine Equitable and Dominion's operations, requiring prior notice of Equitable's merger and acquisition activity, filing compliance reports and "any other relief appropriate to correct or remedy the anticompetitive effect of the transaction or to restore Peoples as a viable, independent competitor in the relevant market." The full text of the FTC Complaint is available on the NEM Website.

FERC will convene a technical conference on RTO/ISO seams issues in the Eastern interconnection. The conference will be held March 29, 2007, beginning at 9AM. Topics for discussion will include general perspectives, commercial and market issues, and transmission and operational issues as between ISO/RTOs and non-ISO/RTO utilities. Seams issues between ISO/RTO markets are also on the agenda. The full text of the Eastern Seams Conference Agenda is available on the NEM Website.