www.stjoenews-press.com Wednesday, March 05, 2003 By KEN NEWTON kenn@npgco.com

On a cold day, the news from Washington warmed some low-income families in Missouri.

The Bush administration on Tuesday released $150 million for home-heating assistance. The allotment included $1.85 million for Missouri.

Funds from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program have helped about 1,500 families in Buchanan County, said Pat Niland, Division of Family Services income-maintenance supervisor in St. Joseph.

The program helps eligible families pay for heating and insulating their homes in the winter. They can get one subsidy per heating season, Ms. Niland said, with the amount dependent on household size, income and source of heat.

“Some folks are being threatened with shutoff, and others are not,” she said.

Missouri’s Cold Weather Rule, adopted by the state’s Public Service Commission in 1977, helps protect families having trouble paying their home energy bills. Between Nov. 1 and March 31, utilities under PSC jurisdiction can not shut off service on a day when the temperature is expected to be below 30 degrees.

Tuesday’s release of program funding was the second this year. In January, the administration turned over to states $200 million in emergency funds, $2.96 million of which came to Missouri.

“It’s always good news when we have a release of that money,” PSC Chairman Kelvin Simmons said Tuesday.

Mr. Simmons said that as early as last April, the PSC believed that the situation in the Middle East and political turmoil in Venezuela could push higher the costs of natural gas. This spike in heating costs would put a greater burden on low-income families.

“The only saving grace now is that we’re getting some warmer weather,” he said. “It would be a different story if this were November instead of March.”

Paul Snider, a spokesman for Missouri Gas Energy in St. Joseph, said recent warm winters and one heating season of extraordinarily high gas prices makes it hard to fully gauge the need for assistance this year.

But, he noted, the release of federal money is welcome to those who take advantage of the program.

“It will be put to good use,” he said.

Those interested in the program can call the local Division of Family Services office at (816) 387-2000, or the state office at (800) 392-1261.

www.sun-herald.com By CHRIS CURRY Staff Writer 03/05/03

Based on a spike in fuel costs, the state agency which regulates utilities approved a rate increase for Florida's three largest electric companies Tuesday. The Florida Public Service Commission will reconsider the mid-year fuel adjustment, at its regular fuel hearings in November.

"You have the largest oil strike ever in Venezuela, unusual cold weather in North America and Canada increasing demand for natural gas and the threat of war in the Middle East," PSC spokesperson Kevin Bloom said. "You put all those together, the rate adjustment was unavoidable."

Under the changes, which begin in the April billing period, Florida Power & Light residential customers, including those in Charlotte and Sarasota counties, will see a $4.75 increase from $76.85 to $81.60 for every 1,000 kilowatt hours of use. FPL commercial rates will increase 7.3 percent and industrial rates will rise 11.6 percent. Customers with Progress Energy Florida and the Tampa Electric Co. will also see rate increases.

Bloom said under state law, utility companies operate under a "straight pass-through" system and cannot make a profit.

"If during the year, the cost projections drop back down, than customers will see a refund in November," he said.

But if costs rise higher, the PSC will likely need to raise rates again at the November meeting.

Florida Public Counsel Jack Shreve, the state's advocate for all utility customers said if costs drop, the PSC should not wait until November to lower rates.

"If prices were to turn around and come down, we should turn around and get the rates down for the customers as quickly as we got them up for the companies," Shreve said. "But we don't know exactly what's going to happen. Right now, costs are significantly up all the way around and they may stay that way until we have some change in world affairs."

FPL spokesman Bill Swank said the utility's rates were highest in April 2001, when tension in the Middle East contributed to a rise to $87.98 for every 1,000 kilowatts per hour.

"We're hoping to see fuel prices go back down again," Swank said. "We understand it's real frustrating to see not only gas prices go up but electric prices as well."

Swank said since November, FPL has seen an 8-percent rise in oil prices and a 16-percent spike in the cost of natural gas. He said the company offers a number of billing and conservation options for customers, including a program which levels customer bills over a 12-month span so they do not feel the financial burden from increased use in the summer and winter months. The company also offers customers energy audits to determine if they are wasting electricity. More information on the programs can be found on the computer at www.fpl.com

FPL serves 4 million accounts in the state and approximately 8 million people.

www.tcpalm.com By David Royse The Associated Press March 5, 2003

TALLAHASSEE -- The state's three largest utilities, Progress Energy, FPL, and Tampa Electric, won approval Tuesday to increase rates to account for rising fuel costs.

Under the changes approved by the Public Service Commission, the state's utilities regulator, Florida Power & Light Co. customers would see the biggest increase, about $4.75 to make an average monthly FPL residential bill $81.60.

The increase passes higher prices for natural gas and oil on to consumers. The companies' profits won't increase because of it.

The utilities cited a cold winter in the north and a slow down in natural gas production for a spike in gas prices. They also cited rising fuel oil costs because of concerns about supply caused by an oil workers' strike in Venezuela and tension in the Middle East.

The average residential customer of Progress Energy would see their monthly bill increase by $3.36 to about $83.71.

Tampa Electric customers would see their bill go up by $4.46 on average, to $94.14 a month.

The increases will take effect next month.

Public Counsel Jack Shreve, who represents consumers before the PSC, and a coalition of large power customers, the Florida Industrial Power Users Group, both said they understood the rising cost of fuel and the need to pass the cost on. Both also urged the PSC to closely monitor fuel prices and quickly require the companies to adjust rates downward again when prices go down.

Last year, Progress and FPL both lowered rates as energy prices fell.

FPL serves 3.8 million customers in Florida, including much of South Florida and central Florida and nearly the entire east coast of the state.

Progress has 4.1 million Florida customers, with its major service areas being in the St. Petersburg area and the Orlando suburbs.

Tampa Electric serves 600,000 customers in Hillsborough County and parts of Pasco, Pinellas and Polk counties.

www.washingtonpost.com By Kenneth Bredemeier Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, March 5, 2003; Page E02

Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore's office is investigating whether gasoline prices "are going up artificially or being driven by the market."

Kilgore said that in the past two weeks four lawyers and another staff member from his office have questioned producers and gas-station owners and listened to complaints from consumers about how the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline has risen in Virginia to $1.58 from $1. A gallon of regular now averages $1.68 nationally and in the Washington area.

"The price will go up with the trouble in the Middle East and Venezuela," Kilgore said. "But does it have to go up this quickly? I'm not sure the market is producing this big a jump."

Officials in Florida and California are conducting similar investigations.

The cost of crude oil typically accounts for about 40 percent of the retail price of gasoline, but lately, with the sharp increase in the price of crude because of the threat of a U.S. attack on Iraq and the lingering effects of a strike by oil workers in Venezuela, the proportion has been more than 52 percent.

Kilgore said that the investigation is being headed by Deputy Attorney General Judith W. Jagdmann and that his lawyers are looking at whether the major oil companies might be violating state antitrust law.

John C. Felmy, chief economist of the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, said there is no mystery to the gas-price increase: It's simply that the price of crude oil has gone up so much. He said that for every dollar increase in the price of a barrel of crude oil, the pump price will increase 2.4 cents a gallon.

Exxon Mobil Corp. spokeswoman Prem Nair said that in addition to the crude-oil price increases, a colder-than-usual winter has increased the demand for heating oil, resulting in less gasoline being made.

Kilgore said his staff is also exploring why when a gas station raises its prices, others around it do the same.

Kilgore said he expects the investigation to reach some conclusions in about two weeks.

Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for Kilgore, said the investigation was started after complaints from consumers and gas-station franchise owners who claim that the major oil companies impose rules that needlessly push gas prices higher, and that company-owned stations are favored.

Bruce B. Keeney Sr., executive vice president of the Virginia Gasoline Marketers Council, which represents about 1,000 of the 3,500 gas stations in the state, said the major oil companies' system of "zone pricing," in which retail gas prices in specific areas are kept more or less the same, is anti-competitive because the oil companies quickly change the wholesale price of gasoline if any station owner attempts to lower the pump price to meet competition from another dealer.

Felmy said it was "completely bogus" that normal pricing practices had anything to do with the recent gas-price increases.

biz.yahoo.com Tuesday March 4, 4:41 pm ET

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - In a move to keep more oil in the U.S. market amid high crude prices, the Energy Department said on Tuesday it will allow oil companies to defer delivering 3.5 million barrels of crude supposed to be shipped to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve during April.

The department's decision will keep more oil in the market as U.S. crude inventories are low and oil prices remain high because of fears of a war with Iraq and a disruption in Venezuelan crude exports due to a workers strike.

Oil companies have until April 2004 to deliver the deferred crude, plus additional barrels as interested.

The emergency stockpile will still receive a shipment of 400,000 barrels of oil already scheduled for next month, a department spokesman said.

The crude bound for the reserve comes from oil companies that turn over the oil to the government as royalty payments for drilling on federal leases. Energy firms normally pay cash royalties on the crude they find.

The Bush administration has suspended about 18.5 million barrels in royalty-in-kind oil shipments since mid-December that were bound for the emergency reserve.

The stockpile was created by Congress in the mid 1970s after the Arab oil embargo and currently holds 599 million barrel of crude in a series of underground salt caverns at four sites in Texas and Louisiana.

The administration plans to fill the reserve to its capacity of 700 million barrels by the end of 2005.