Shell Energy North America (U.S.) L.P. (SENA) has been elected to NEM's Executive Committee. Shell will be represented within NEM by Matthew J. Picardi.

Headquartered in Houston, with regional offices throughout the United States and Canada, Shell Energy North America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc. In conjunction with its subsidiaries, SENA trades and markets natural gas, wholesale power and risk management products with counterparties and customers throughout the continent. SENA currently conducts most of its US business activities in the name of its subsidiaries Coral Power, L.L.C. and Coral Energy Resources, L.P. More information about SENA is available at Shell Energy North America (U.S.), L.P. (Shell), http://www.shell.com/us.

Matt Picardi, SENA Vice President - Regulatory Affairs, will be the company’s point of contact with NEM if the SENA’s membership is approved. Matt is located at 111 Washington Avenue, Suite #750, Albany, New York 12210. He can be contacted at (518) 433-0949 for any additional questions.

For those of you who don’t know Matt, he started his career with Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation as a regulatory and commercial transactions attorney. In that capacity, he tried many cases before the New York State Public Service Commission and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC'), including rate cases and proceedings determining appropriate payments to be made to independent power producers under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act. In June of 1996, he was appointed General Counsel of Niagara Mohawk Energy, the natural gas and power marketing affiliate of Niagara Mohawk. Also, he was a co-founder and served as Chair of the National Energy Marketers Association.

Mr. Picardi became Dynegy's lead regulatory counsel for the Northeast United States in 2000. While in that position, he was extremely active in market design issues for electricity markets administered by the New York Independent System Operator ("NYISO") and was a member of NYISO's Management Committee and served as Chair of NYISO's Installed Capacity Working Group.

In December of 2002, Mr. Picardi joined Shell Energy North America to lead its natural gas and power regulatory activity for the North Region. For Shell Energy, this covers corporate affiliates that market and sell power in Canada and the regions covered by PJM Interconnection, Inc., NYISO, ISO-New England and Midwest ISO. He served as Chair of NYISO's Management Committee in 2007, and on the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator Board of Directors. Mr. Picardi is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association.

Mr. Picardi holds a B.A from Hobart College and J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law. He lives in the Albany, New York area with his wife and three children.

NEM's Global Energy Forum and Annual Membership Meeting held in Washington, DC last week was a great success. This year's theme was "Strategic Energy, Security & Advanced Technology Policies - Think Globally, Save Locally." NEM's Meeting Press Release and Speaker Presentations are now posted on the NEM Website.

Of particular note, U.S. Under Secretary of Energy Clarence "Bud" Albright announced at the event the issuance of the Solar Funding Opportunity Announcement for up to $60 million in funding over five years (Fiscal Years 2008-2012), including $10 million in FY 2008 appropriations and $10 million in the FY 2009 Budget request, to support the development of low-cost Concentrating Solar Power technology. The DOE's announcement was followed by SUNRGI's announcement of its invention of Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics™ (XCPV™). SUNRGI’s new solar energy system will soon make it possible to produce electricity at a wholesale cost of 5-cents per kWh (kilowatt hour), a price competitive with the wholesale cost of producing electricity using fossil fuels.

We had a great turnout for the event, featuring global, national and regional energy policy leaders including: Doug Hengel, U.S. Department of State, Foreign officials from Russia, Israel, Romania, and Slovenia, C.H. "Bud Albright, Jr., Undersecretary of Energy for DOE, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), Member, Energy and Natural Resources Committee, US House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), U.S. Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX), U.S. Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ), FERC Commissioner Marc Spitzer, FERC Commissioner Jon Wellinghoff, CFTC Commissioner Michael Dunn, David Wales, Deputy Director, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission, New York PSC Chairman, Garry Brown, Texas PUC Chairman, Barry Smitherman, GAPSC Commissioner, Stan Wise, Asst. Executive Director, Maryland PSC, Calvin Timmerman and Pennsylvania PUC Energy Advisor, Eric Matheson.

Many thanks to our sponsors, speakers and attendees for making the meeting a success.

The FERC Chairman and Commissioners testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the adequacy of state and federal regulatory structures for governing electric utility holding companies in light of EPAct's repeal of PUHCA in 2005 and in view of GAO's recent report on FERC's oversight activities. FERC reported on its related activities, in particular its recent rulemaking setting forth its policy "to accept state cross-subsidization protections absent evidence that additional measures are needed to protect wholesale customers or where states lack authority in this area." FERC also noted its new rules to address accounting for centralized service companies in holding companies and pricing for affiliate trades of non-power goods and services. FERC considered the GAO report recommendations and refuted the contention in the GAO report that FERC relies on self-reporting as the primary enforcement mechanism to prevent inappropriate cross-subsidization. The full text of FERC's Testimony is available on the NEM Website.

FERC Staff will convene a second technical conference to address questions associated with the new wholesale gas reporting requirement on Form 552 under Order 704. The follow-up conference will be held May 19, 2008, from 9:30AM to 3:30PM at the Commission's Washington, DC headquarters. Those that wish to participate by phone must register by May 14, 2008, at https://www.ferc.gov/whats-new/registration/form-552-05-19-form.asp.

Staff compiled over 100 questions from stakeholders on Form 552 reporting and was not able to address all of the questions in the course of the previous technical conference. On May 12, Staff will post its draft responses to the questions and a workshop agenda. The full text of the Notice of Follow-Up Workshop is available on the NEM Website.