NEM is pleased to announce that PG&E National Energy Group* has been elected to the Executive Committee. With regional offices from coast to coast, PG&E National Energy Group brings together the nation's leading competitive power producers, has natural gas facilities that connect major producing regions to some of the fastest-growing markets in North America, and operates one of the top energy trading businesses in the country. PG&E National Energy Group will be represented within NEM by Lyndell (Lyn) E. Maddox, President and Chief Operating Officer, Trading, Stephen S. Greene, Vice President Strategy & New Initiatives, and Steven L. Kline, Vice President of Federal Governmental and Regulatory Relations for PG&E Corporation.

*PG&E National Energy Group and any other company referenced herein which uses the PG&E name or logo are not the same company as Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the California utility. These companies are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, and customers do not have to buy products from these companies in order to continue to receive quality regulated services from the utility.

NEM is pleased to announce that Energy Services Group (ESG) has joined. ESG, with headquarters in Massachusetts and offices in Houston, is the leading provider of Outsourced EDI and Billing Services tailored to meet the requirements of competitive natural gas and electricity markets. ESG will be represented by Nate Owen, President and CEO, within NEM.

We have confirmed September 17, 2002, at 2PM for a meeting with the FERC Staff responsible for the Standard Market Design GIGA-NOPR to be held at FERC headquarters in Washington, DC. Please confirm your attendance at the FERC meeting with NEM headquarters ASAP as they must get us a room big enough for our members, and we must clear you through security.

Additionally, we have reserved a bridge for September 5, 2002, at 2PM EST for a follow-up call on the Giga-NOPR. The purpose of the call will be to identify specific issues and NEM recommendations for NEM comments on the NOPR. A very rough draft list of issues will be circulated prior to the call--please mark your calendars. The conference call number is 703-788-0600, and the passcode is 209353.

NEM's Executive Committee will hold an important meeting to review, identify and prioritize issues and vote on NEM's position on the FERC Giga-NOPR, RTOs and Standard Market Design, Next Steps to Develop and Implement Industry Standards for Risk Valuation, Management and Financial Governance as well as review and prioritize NEM's positions on State Retail and Technology-related issues on September 26 & 27, 2002, in Chicago. The meeting will be open to all NEM members and prospective members. A brochure and quick registration form are hotlinked here for your convenience. A listing of area hotels is also hotlinked here. Please be sure to reserve a hotel room and RSVP so that we can plan to have enough room and meals.

NEM has reserved Union Train Station in downtown Chicago for this meeting. Please let us know if you would like to break out into two or more subject matter groups to focus on Wholesale and Credit/Risk Management issues separately from the Retail/Consumer Aggregation issues during the day of September 26, 2002.

NEM Policy Chairs will lead the discussion on all issues. Your attendance and input on these important issues is encouraged and will be appreciated.

Next year’s Annual Membership Meeting and National Restructuring Conference will be held April 3 and 4, 2003, at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. We have arranged for additional space to accommodate more attendees with a special room for exhibits and added sponorship opportunities. Breakfast and all breaks will be in the exhibition room that is adjacent to and visible from the general session. A hotlink for signup is provided here.

Members who wish to be speakers, sponsors or exhibitors should contact headquarters immediately as we will be starting our worldwide advertising shortly. The exposure and attendance should be even better than this year.

NEM's Winter Executive Committee Meeting will be held in San Diego at Sempra's headquarters on January 16 and 17, 2003. This meeting will be for NEM Executive Committee Members only. As in the past, the Executive Committee will establish the policy positions and priorities for NEM for the coming year.

All Executive Committeee Members are requested to attend. An agenda will be sent out prior to the meeting.

SEC approved final rules on executive and financial officer certification of quarterly and annual reports and accelerated filing deadlines for quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual reports on Form 10-K.

The new certification rule requires principal executive and financial offiers of an issuer to certify quarterly and annual reports. The officers must certify that: they have reviewed the report; the report does not contain untrue statements of material fact; the financial statements and financial information in the report fairly represents the financial condition and operations of the issuer; that the certifying officers have established, maintained and and evaluated "disclosure controls and procedures" for the issuer; that the certifying officers have disclosed to auditors and the audit committee all significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal controls and any fraud involving management or others with a significant role in internal controls; and whether there have been significant changes in internal controls. The full text of the Certification Rule is available on the NEM Website.

SEC also adopted rules changing the filing deadlines for quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual reports on Form 10-K. The accelerated deadlines will be phased in over a three year period. The annual report deadline will remain 90 days in year one, become 75 days in year two and become 60 days thereafter. The quarterly report deadline will remain 45 days in year one, become 40 days in year two and become 35 days thereafter. These accelerated deadlines apply to companies with a public float of $75 million or more, that reported for at least 12 months, that previously filed one annual report, and are ineligible to use SEC forms for small business issuers. Accelerated filers must also disclose in Form 10-K whether they make periodic and current reports available on their website. The full text of the Accelerated Filing Rule will be posted on the NEM Website when made available electronically.

Staff will hold a technical conference on October 2, 2002, on a standard market monitoring plan to be adopted as part of standard market design. The purpose of the conference is to discuss how to develop a standardized market monitoring plan that could aid in the evaluation of wholesale electric market performance and individual market participant conduct. Topics of discussion will include standard indices, data and reporting required to implement the plan. The full text of the Notice of Market Monitoring Conference is available on the NEM Website.

NYISO and ISONE filed a petition with FERC for the creation of a Northeastern RTO (NERTO). NYISO and ISONE propose to establish a single NERTO market comprised of New York and six New England states. The NERTO would also coordinate with the Canadian provinces of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council. NERTO would have an independent governing board and would utilize day-ahead and real time energy markets, an LMP-based congestion management system, financial transmission rights and a uniform ICAP market. NYISO and ISONE request that FERC issue an Order finding that NERTO qualifies as an RTO. The full text of the NERTO Petition is available on the NEM Website.