NEM is pleased to announce that Amerex has been elected to the Executive Committee. Amerex is a leading over-the-counter commodity brokerage, providing voice and electronic brokerage services to the energy and other related markets. Amerex will be represented within NEM by Steven W. Town, Co-CEO of the Amerex group of North American Companies and Michael Prokop, CIO of the Amerex group of North American companies. Steve Town can be reached at 281-340-5201 or Stevet@amerexenergy.com. Mike Prokop can be reached at 281-340-5290 or mikep@amerexenergy.com.

NEM held its first meeting on the drafting of a Master Margin and Netting Agreement. It is anticipated that NEM and EEI will collaborate on this effort. Many thanks to Chris Bernard from Entergy-Koch and Dede Russo from Reliant for offering to coordinate this effort. A small drafting group will prepare a strawman over the next 10 days. The strawman will be circulated to everyone who has expressed an interest.

EEI will discuss this topic at a meeting on April 11, 2002 at EEI's Washington, D.C. offices. The Agenda for the Meeting is available on the NEM Website. NEM and its members will also be present for this meeting.

NEM's Risk Valuation, Management and Financial Accountability Taskforce meeting at the Georgetown Club, 1530 Wisconsin Ave. in Washington, DC will now be held on April 19, 2002, beginning at 11AM and lasting no later than 5:30PM. The purpose of the meeting is to forge consensus on accounting and disclosure standards to promote the proper valuation of energy assets, equity securities and forward energy contracts, including derivatives.

We currently only have room for 20 and need a firm headcount to order food and decide whether we need a larger room at the Georgetown Club. Please RSVP as soon as possible. Call (202) 333-3288 or email info@energymarketers.com.

Senators, FERC, PUC and FTC Commissioners have confirmed for NEM's Annual Membership Meeting and National Restructuring Conference to be held June 20 and 21, 2002, at the Marriott Metro Center in Washington, DC. An updated agenda, registration form and electronic brochure is hotlinked here for your convenience. Please note that the registration fee for the conference increases as of April 1, 2002.

NEM's meeting with Chairman Wood that had been scheduled for May 1, 2002, has been postponed. In the midst of all of the initiatives currently pending at the Commission, Chairman Wood has requested that the meeting be postponed until the fall. The pre-meeting conference call scheduled for April 16, 2002, will be rescheduled as well.

NEM submitted comments on FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule rulemaking arguing that at this stage in the development of competitive energy markets, it is imperative that unnecessarily restrictive measures do not increase the cost of U.S. energy supplies and do not impede consumers' ability to understand their energy choices or to exercise choice. NEM submitted that the national Do-Not-Call registry and possible prohibition of utilities providing competitive suppliers access to customer lists could have such an effect without yielding an appreciable increase in consumer protection. NEM urged that energy consumer enrollment should be a matter of state and local jurisdiction and will be appropriate until the country has implemented national uniform rules, including electronic signature rules, that permit the aggregation of large groups of customers across the country. NEM also urged that competitive suppliers use of customer lists continue to be permitted. NEM recommended that the transaction authorization and recordkeeping requirements of the Rule follow the requirements of the energy industry UBP to avoid the imposition of duplicative and costly burdens on energy consumers as well as competitive energy supplies. The full text of NEM's Comments is available on the NEM Website.

NEM submitted comments supporting the direction the Commission charted in the "Standardized Transmission Service and Wholesale Electric Market Design" Working Paper. NEM supported FERC's proposals with respect to network access service that provide both pricing and scheduling flexibility and the requirement that transmission rights holders must sell unscheduled transmission rights. NEM also supported the inclusion of demand response measures, independent MMUs, the use of modular software systems and both standardized data formats and transfer protocols in standard market design. NEM urged the Commission not to include the proposed limits on bidding flexibility and bid caps. NEM also recommended that the Commission clarify the embedded cost components associated with the Network Access Charge and the assignment of transmission rights as well as the effect of the RTO regional planning process on market participants. The full text of NEM's Comments is available on the NEM Website.