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 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. 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.

This year we are working on expanding our Global Energy Forum to include an exposition for our member sponsors and other new and innovative companies from all segements of the energy suppply and demand chain, to include booth and exposition space. We are working with a new organization on this expansion of our meeting format.

A block of rooms has been reserved for NEM members at the rate of $279 per night. Contact 202-719-1421 for reservations.

NEM is pleased to announce that Global Contact Services LLC (GCS) has been elected to NEM's Executive Committee. GCS is a leading provider of integrated customer care solutions for companies in many industries. From customer acquisition to customer service, they help companies cost effectively grow their business and improve their image. GCS will be represented within NEM by Greg Alcorn, Bryan Overcash, Frank Camp, Bob Dunmire, Mark Lambert and Catherine Blanchard.

FERC clarified its Order 704, setting forth an annual reporting requirement for physical natural gas transactions for certain market participants. The reports will be on Form 552, to be filed each May for the previous calendar year. FERC clarified that Form 552 data should be limited to "transactions that utilize, contribute to, or could contribute to index price formation," which it explained would, "include volumes that utilize next-day or next-month price indices, volumes that are reported to any price index publisher, any any volumes that could be reported to an index publisher even if the respondent has chosen not to report to a publisher." FERC affirmed its decision to include both purchase and sales data for Form 552.

The Commission clarified the 2.2 million MMBtus de minimis reporting threshold - a respondent with either reportable purchases equal to or greater than 2.2 million MMBtu or reportable sales equal to or greater than 2.2 million MMBtu must report. Purchases and sales don't net each other out for this purpose. Also of note, if a transaction volume would not be included on the form, then volumes associated with it do not count toward the de minimis threshold. If a company aggregates volumes from affiliates, the volumes are aggregated for the purpose of whether the de minimis threshold is met.

FERC clarified the end-use transactions that are to be reported on Form 552, versus retail transactions that are excluded from the reporting requirement. "Our exclusion in Order No. 402 is aimed at traditional retail transactions (i.e. those that are in markets functionally separate from the wholesale markets) rather than other end-use transactions involving volumes in the wholesale market." The example given of an excluded transaction was a bundled utility sale. "Transactions typically perceived to be at retail are not reportable while transactions that utilize, contribute to, or may contribute to price indices should be reportable."

NYMEX Plus transactions are only reportable when "1) executed during bid week and that can contribute to a next-month price index, and 2) they utilize a NYMEX settlement price during bid week that can contribute to a next-month index." Additionally, "for all contracts where deliveries occur or may occur over multiple calendar years and such volumes are reportable, only volumes attributable for delivery that use or may contribute to the formation of price indices during the subject calendar year should be reported on Form 552."

The Commission clarified that reporting entities do not need to categorize volumes based upon whether such volumes relate to transactions at specific price index locations. Also, balancing, cash-out, operational, in-kind and similar transactions are reportable if they rely upon, contribute to or could contribute to a price index.

The Commission will utilize a safe harbor for good faith reporting for the May 2009 report covering calendar year 2008 transactions. The full text of the Order on Rehearing is available on the NEM Website.