|
The natural gas wholesale market was busier than it has been the past few days but still relatively slow yesterday. The volume was light to moderate and the range was just over 13 cents between high and low and the March exchange contract settled at $3.793. While the volatility in the natural gas market used to be considered the Wild West in the early 2000’s and the international crude oil market was more predictable, it seems that the roles have definitely reversed in the last few weeks. Crude oil has had over a $20 range in the last week and a half in the April exchange contract while the natural gas wholesale contract is stuck in the mud. Yesterday’s storage change number came out at a draw of 81 bcf which was the low end of the range of estimates but the market barely moved when the number was released. Total natural gas stocks now stand at 1,830 Bcf. This compares with the date adjusted 1,878 Bcf of a year ago and the 5 year average of 1.890 Bcf The 6 to 10 day forecast is calling for much above average temperatures in the plains states while the 11 to 15 day forecast continues to see some colder weather slowly moving down into the Pacific Northwest.
In the satisfied customer department, business customers gave PPL Electric Utilities high marks in the 2011 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study released by J.D. Power and Associates. For the ninth time in 12 years, the utility ranked highest in customer satisfaction among large utilities in the eastern United States. The award is the company's 17th overall - more than any other utility in the country - since J.D. Power and Associates began studying customer satisfaction among electric utility customers. PPL Electric Utilities has earned the top honor for business customer satisfaction in the eastern region of the U.S. nine times in the last 12 years. "Our customers faced a challenging year in 2010 adjusting to a competitive market and rising electric generation rates. This award recognizes our commitment to providing value to our customers and always striving for exceptional service," said David G. DeCampli, president of PPL Electric Utilities. By providing our customers with the tools and resources they needed to save energy and money, helping them evaluate their options and educating them about the number of choices in the competitive electricity supplier market, we were able to maintain high customer satisfaction levels," DeCampli said. The J.D. Power and Associates study ranks companies on a 1,000-point scale, measuring power quality and reliability; billing and payment; corporate citizenship; price/value; communications; and customer service. "There is a responsibility that comes with providing an essential public service such as electricity. We believe that an organization-wide customer focus is crucial for an electric utility. This study always provides us with insights on how we can continually improve the service we provide," DeCampli said. J.D. Power and Associates interviewed more than 17,000 businesses for the study.
Some utilities actually can be efficient in their processes as CenterPoint Energy has installed smart meters for nearly half its Houston-area customers, and all of them may get a break on the cost of the project. Partly because a federal grant shaved a couple of years off the time it will take to add the devices system wide, CenterPoint plans to shorten by six years the period during which it will collect a monthly surcharge for the installation. Smart meters allow CenterPoint to read meters remotely and to respond more quickly to outages. They let customers monitor power use and take advantage of rate plans that offer discounts during low-demand periods. CenterPoint, which distributes electricity to Houston-area customers regardless of which retail provider sells them electricity, provided an update on the project Wednesday as it marked installation of its 1 millionth smart meter. The company originally projected it would take until 2014 to install meters at all its customers' businesses and residences, but because of a $200 million federal grant, CenterPoint now expects to complete the job by the middle of next year. Consumers also have been covering a chunk of the costs through a fee of $3.24 on their monthly bills. Retail providers, which sell electricity to final users and send the bills, started collecting that fee for CenterPoint in 2009. That fee dropped to $3.05 this month as scheduled, and CenterPoint says it will collect it for four more years instead of 10 as originally projected. The federal help, along with savings CenterPoint is already seeing from the meters, is making the shorter collection period possible, said Kenny Mercado, division senior vice president of regulated operations technology at CenterPoint. The reduction in the number of years the fee is collected is pending approval from state utility regulators. CenterPoint is installing about 80,000 meters a month at this time.
|
