An industrial company with plants in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Ontario is seeking an alternative supplier because of the expiration of its natural gas contract for its Indiana facility. Interested members should contact NEM headquarters.

Representative Bilbray has introduced H.Res. 650 urging that FERC should release the findings of its investigation of the California electricity market before November 1, 2000. The full text of H.Res. 650 is available on the NEM Website.

The following entities' RTO Compliance Filings are available on the NEM Website:

A complete list of RTO filings with FERC is available at: http://www.ferc.fed.us/electric/filings.htm.

The Commission has adopted a rulemaking to change the methodology of assessing annual charges on public utilities. The new method entails assessing annual charges based solely on volume of electricity transmitted rather than the current method of assessment based on jurisdictional power sales and transmission volumes. The full text of the Rule will be posted on the NEM Website when made available electronically.

The Commission has issued an Order announcing expedited procedures for addressing California market issues providing as follows:

The full text of the Order on Expedited Procedures is available on the NEM Website.

The NYISO has filed a request to extend the duration of the temporary $1,000/MWh bid caps until April 30, 2001. The NYISO further requested that if a working market protective mechanism is not implemented by April 30, 2001, that the bid caps continue in effect. The full text of the NYISO's requests to extend the temporary bid caps are available on the NEM Website as follows: Corrected Filing Letter; Filing Letter - Request to Extend Temporary Bid Caps until April 30, 2001; Temporary Attachment F - Services Tariff; Temporary Attachment F - Services Tariff (Redlined); Filing Letter - Request to Extend Temporary Bid Caps Pending Implementation of a Market Protective Mechanism; Policy Statement on Market Protective Mechanisms; Temporary Attachment F - Services Tariff Pending Market Protective Mechanism; and Temporary Attachment F - Services Tariff Pending Market Protective Mechanism (Redlined).

NEM has filed a Statement in Opposition to the proposed ConEd electric settlement asserting that the one-time switching incentive does not provide marketers with a sustainable basis for competition. NEM also argued that the 2 mill/kWh credit for demand customers should not be eliminated prior to setting a credit equal to the full rate base values associated with the energy supply and commercial costs of serving ConEd's retail load. The full text of NEM's Statement in Opposition is available on the NEM Website. The following parties' Statements in Opposition are also available on the NEM Website: Keyspan Energy Supply; 1st Rochdale; NYSEG; Westchester County; and Local 1-2.

The Commission has approved the NFG rate settlement. The full text of the Order Approving the Settlement is available on the NEM Website. NFG restructuring settlement discussions are to resume November 9-10, 2000, and NEM members that intend participate are requested to contact headquarters.

The EDI Collaborative filed its Data Standards Report on the following topics: General Enrollment Request/Response, General Enrollment Drop Request, EDI Test Plan Overview, EDI Data Transfer Mechanism Recommendation, Web Site Design Recommendations, and Web Site Design - Gas Aggregated Daily Delivery Quantity (ADDQ) File Format. Contrary to marketers' arguments, the Report recommends using two data elements, account number and meter number, to validate all EDI transactions. It is expected that the Data Standards Report will be published in the New York Register on November 1, 2000, and comments will be due 45 days after publication. The full text of the Data Standards Report is available on the NEM Website.

A meeting to identify issues potentially subject to settlement in the Central Hudson rate proceedings will be held November 1, 2000. NEM members planning to attend should contact headquarters ASAP.

The Commission has ordered the utilities to file proposed electric service bill formats by November 10, 2000. The full text of the Order on Electric Service Bill Formats is available on the NEM Website.

The Consumers' Counsel has filed comments urging the Commission to reverse its Order on the DP&L Settlement allowing minimum stay requirements to be imposed on residential customers after the first year of the Market Development Period. The Consumers' Counsel urges the Commission to adopt the provision originally set forth in the Settlement permitting non-aggregated residential customers to shop three times and return two times to the default tariff before being required to choose from the minimum stay or adjustable rate tariff options. The full text of the Comments of the Consumers' Counsel is available from NEM headquarters.

The Consumers' Counsel has filed comments on the proposed compliance tariffs filed by AEP. The full text of the Comments of the Consumers' Counsel is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission has approved regulations on the functional separation of electric utilities providing that each incumbent electric utility must submit a functional separation plan to the commission by January 1, 2001, detailing the separation of its generation, transmission and distribution services. The plans must include proposed unbundled tariffs, rates, terms and conditions, information on a cost of service study, discussion of the financial impact of the separation plan, and the proposed structure of each functionally separate entity. The full text of the Order Adopting Regulations on the Functional Separation of Electric Utilities is available on the NEM Website.

The draft tariffs filed by MidAmerican and Peoples in the small volume gas transportation proceeding are available on the NEM Website. Members interested in participating in this proceeding should contact NEM headquarters and Tom Modaff and Wendy Ito of NICOR Energy, who are coordinating NEM's advocacy efforts in Iowa.

Michigan

The Commission has approved the proposed gas customer choice program of Consumers Energy to begin April 1, 2001, and to open to all Consumers Energy customers by April 1, 2003. The full text of the Order Approving Consumers Energy Gas Customer Choice Program is available on the NEM Website.