NEM is pleased to announce that ACN Energy has been nominated to the Executive Committee. ACN Energy is a retail electricity and natural gas marketer. John Huffman, CEO and President, Alan Freund, CFO and Vice President, Elden Condie, Vice President - Wholesale Operations, Larry Nisenoff, Chief Information Officer, and Douglas C. Cooley, Esq., Director of Regulatory Affairs will represent ACN Energy within NEM.

NEM will host its National Energy Restructuring Conference and Annual Membership Meeting on April 3-4, 2001, in Washington, D.C. A number of prominent leaders from Congress, NARUC, academia and the industry have confirmed. A hotlink to the event is provided here for your convenience.

At the request of several large newspapers, NEM President, Craig Goodman, wrote an Op-Ed on California-Style Deregulation. It outlines the problem, several short and long term solutions, and the silver lining to the current crisis. The full text of the Article is available on the NEM Website.

Energy Markets published an article in its December 2000 edition entitled, "Politics of Deregulation," authored by NICOR Energy President and CEO, Kevin Stoffer. The January 2001 edition of Energy Markets included an article entitled, "NEM Adopts National Energy Technology Policy." The full text of the December Article and the January Article are available on the NEM Website.

Secretary Richardson has extended the termination date of the emergency order requiring certain suppliers to sell electricity when the California ISO certifies there is an inadequate supply to January 24, 2001. The full text of the Amended Order is available on the NEM Website.

DOE also issued a Rehearing Order, requesting comments to the argument that the Emergency Order requires the listed entities to provide energy and services to the CAISO at negotiated rates (or at rates determined in accordance with DOE regulations, if the parties cannot agree to rates), but does not require the CAISO to provide financial assurances, in the form of guarantees or other credit protection, to ensure the entities providing energy or services under the Emergency Order will be paid. Comments are due February 16, 2001. The full text of the DOE Rehearing Order is available on the NEM Website.

NYISO and the Member Systems, ISO New England and the New England Transmission Owners, and CAISO have submitted RTO compliance filings. The full texts of the NYISO Filing Letter, NYISO Attachments I, II, and III, NYISO Attachment III Seams Matrix, New England RTO Filing, and CAISO Filing are available on the NEM Website. NEM will provide its analysis of the filings in the upcoming weeks.

NEM has filed comments on Commission adoption of the UBP Report urging implementation of the consensus positions in the UBP Report applicable to customer information, enrollment and switching, billing and payment processing, and load profiling. NEM also urged that in order to implement uniform business practices, energy industry specific Standardized Information Protocols (SIPs) integrating Internet-based technology, preferably using XML, must be established. The full text of the NEM's Comments is available on the NEM Website.

NEM has submitted comments supporting the Strawman Proposal in the POLR proceeding. NEM urged the state to ensure that new generation capacity be built to meet growing demand to enable competitive suppliers to bring consumers competitively priced energy and related services. NEM supported the proposed "bottoms up approach" to unbundling to ensure properly devised shopping credits for consumers. NEM also supported setting a date certain for consumers to transition to the competitive marketplace. Finally, NEM supported continued efforts to implement uniform business practices. The full text of NEM's Comments is available on the NEM Website.

NEM and other members of a marketer coalition have asked the Commission to modify the schedule of the ConEd electric Phase 4 proceeding to facilitate consideration of the long-run avoided cost (LRAC) study and to coordinate the determination of ConEd back-out credits in Phase 4 and the billing proceeding so that that all LRACs associated with the utility exiting the retail commodity and billing functions be excluded from retail access delivery charges. The full text of the Motion is available on the NEM Website.

The first all-parties meeting in the Keyspan Gas Phase 2 proceeding will be held January 30, 2001, at the Commission's Penn Plaza offices at 12PM.

Marketers and the Ratepayer Advocate have filed motions for reconsideration of the Board's Order in the Customer Account Services (CAS) Proceeding that deferred approval of the settlement provision on the voluntary customer response card. As a result, the utilities have filed a letter stating that they believe the 120-day time period for implementation of utility consolidated billing has been tolled. The filings are available from NEM headquarters.

The Commission has issued its 2001 Report on the Scope of Competition in Electric Markets to the legislature detailing implementation of state restructuring law. The Commission also recommends changing the Gas Utilities Act to enhance competition in the electric market and changing the administration of the System Benefit fund. The full text of the 2001 Report is available on the NEM Website.

The ALJ in the FirstEnergy-GPU merger proceeding issued an Order granting NEM's petition to intervene. The ALJ held that NEM is non-profit corporation that represents the consensus positions of a regionally diverse group of companies that market energy and related products, services information and technology, with a legal identity separate from its members and that its interventions should not prejudice the ability of its members to separately intervene to protect their individual competitive interests. The ALJ also denied the request to limit NEM participation in the proceeding. The full texts of the Order and NEM's Issues List are available on the NEM Website.

NEM filed comments on the Commission's proposed modifications to written notice requirements for Electric Generation Suppliers. NEM argued that a single notice provided 45 days prior to changes in terms of service, contract termination or expiration of fixed term agreements will adequately protect consumers and guard against undue customer confusion caused by multiple notices. NEM also argued that the notice requirements should not be extended to electric distribution companies (EDCs) because there are already EDI rules in place for supplier/EDC communication. The full text of NEM's Comments is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission ordered that Virginia Power should be permitted to implement, on an interim basis and subject to modification, its proposed changes to the wires charges applicable to its pilot retail access program. Virginia Power proposed the wires charges change based on an increase in its fuel factor. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.

The Michigan PSC Staff is seeking comments on the joint proposals submitted by SEMCO and MGU on permanent gas customer choice program features for smaller LDCs. Comments are due February 1, 2001. The full text of SEMCO's Proposal, SEMCO's Summary of Deviations from Consumers' Energy Tariff, and MGU's Supplementary Proposal are available on the NEM Website.

Comments filed by NEM and other parties on further unbundling of LDC rates and services are posted at: http://www.cis.state.mi.us/mpsc/gas/u12550/unbundling/comments.htm. Reply comments are due by February 15, 2001.

EEI and Southern Energy will sponsor a Master Power Contract Credit Workshop on March 23-24, 2001, in Atlanta, Georgia. An additional Comprehensive Master Power Contract workshop to include western power trading issues will be held April 19, 2001, in Newport Beach, California. For additional information contact pyoung@eei.org.