Allegheny Energy Supply

andrear@herald-mail.com CLEAR SPRING - Eels, tourists and historic dams will benefit from an agreement signed Tuesday between the U.S. Department of the Interior and Allegheny Energy Supply, a subsidiary of Allegheny Energy Inc. In return for renewed permission to use Potomac River Dams No. 4 and No. 5 to generate electricity, Allegheny will share annual dam maintenance costs and fund environmental and educational projects in the area, said...

Allegheny Energy Inc. announced Saturday in a news release that it and subsidiary Allegheny Energy Supply Co. LLC are seeking approval from lenders for the sale of Allegheny Energy Supply's energy supply contract with the California Department of Water Resources and certain related hedges. As part of the request, waivers and amendments to their existing credit facilities are being sought which would also allow the company to place proceeds from the California contract sale, less costs associated with the elimination of related tolling agreements and other hedges, into a pledged account.

WILLIAMSPORT - A Newport News, Va., man was charged Thursday with stealing copper wire from an Allegheny Energy power station in Williamsport. Deon Lavar Stokes, 28, is facing one count of theft more than $500. Police allege in charging documents in Washington County District Court that Stokes sold 294 pounds of copper wire for $705.60 at Cumberland Valley Recycling in Hagerstown. A Washington County Sheriff's Department deputy wrote in charging documents that he was called to the recycling business on Thursday morning while Stokes was still there.

The president of Allegheny Energy's energy trading company - a subsidiary responsible for the bulk of the company's recent financial losses - stepped down Monday. Michael P. Morrell, 54, chose to accept the company's offer of early retirement, said spokeswoman Debra A. Beck. The buyouts were offered to white-collar employees beginning in July as part of an effort to reduce the 6,000-person work force by 10 percent. David C. Benson, 50, has taken over Morrell's duties as president of Allegheny Energy Supply, which handles generating and marketing.

Allegheny subsidiary to sell power to California By ANDREW SCHOTZ andrews@herald-mail.com A division of Allegheny Energy Inc. has signed a 10-year, $4.5 billion contract to supply electricity to the state of California. continued Allegheny Energy Supply Company, LLC, will provide up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity - enough to supply about 1 million homes - from four gas-fired plants in southern California, according to Michael P. Morrell, the president of Allegheny Energy Supply Co., the company's electric generation division.

Trying to improve its financial flexibility, Allegheny Energy asked the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday for authority to access up to $500 million, a company spokeswoman said. Allegheny Energy's energy trading subsidiary, Allegheny Energy Supply, received SEC authority in October to borrow up to $2 billion in secured financing. The SEC request filed on Friday asks the commission to allow Allegheny Energy Supply to transfer authority for up to $500 million of that $2 billion to its parent company, Allegheny Energy spokeswoman Debbie Beck said.

Allegheny to market electricity nationwide By LAURA ERNDE / Staff Writer Allegheny Energy Inc. of Hagerstown announced Monday the purchase of company that will help propel the Hagerstown-based company into the national energy market. continued Allegheny Energy Supply, LLC, the company's unregulated power generating subsidiary, will acquire Global Energy Markets, Merrill Lynch's energy commodity marketing and trading unit, at a cost of $490 million plus a two percent equity interest in Allegheny Energy Supply.

Allegheny Energy Supply, the unregulated energy generation arm of Hagerstown-based Allegheny Energy, has gotten the go-ahead to sell electrical power to customers across Maryland, a company spokeswoman said Thursday. On April 5, the Maryland Public Service Commission granted the company a supplier license, allowing it to compete in the state's looming unregulated power generation market, according to Allegheny Energy Supply spokeswoman Janice Lantz. The company, based in Greensburg, Pa., can market power to residential, commercial and industrial customers in all parts of the state except the delivery area of Allegheny Energy's Allegheny Power subsidiary, Lantz said.

andrews@herald-mail.com The City of Hagerstown is going back to Allegheny Energy Supply as its electricity supplier. The Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday approved a new five-year, $130 million contract that will mean higher prices. How much higher, though, hasn't been determined. Michael S. Spiker, manager of the Hagerstown Light Department, said the price of electricity delivered to the city went up 100 percent from 2004 to 2005. However, by negotiating a five-year, fixed-price contract, the city has kept the coming wholesale price increase to about 60 percent, he said.

tarar@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - Federal energy officials on Tuesday denied an attempt by an Allegheny Energy subsidiary to dismiss a complaint by California officials over a $1.3 billion supply contract. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, however, also ruled to speed up the California complaint proceeding by deciding to hear the case directly, rather than sending it to an administrative law judge first, according to the document. The subsidiary, Allegheny Energy Supply Company, filed an emergency motion in October asking the FERC to uphold the contract and dismiss complaints filed in February by the California Department of Water Resources and the California Electricity Oversight Board.

GREENSBURG, Pa. -- Allegheny Energy Inc. announced Thursday that its R. Paul Smith Power Station in Williamsport was recognized for operational excellence by Navigant Consulting. The 116-megawatt facility received the 2010 runner-up award in the small coal plant category for demonstrated excellence in operation and maintenance spending and unit availability from 2005-09. "The award is a tribute to the dedicated work of our employees at R. Paul Smith. Their success is another great example of our high performance culture," said Paul J. Evanson, chairman, president and CEO of Allegheny Energy.

HAGERSTOWN -- Electricity customers in Hagerstown are expected to save about 8 percent under a new contract extension with Allegheny Energy Supply. The Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday approved the two-year extension, which will take effect June 1, 2011. Under the extension, the rate per megawatt hour (MWh) in Hagerstown will drop to $64.85 from the current rate of $71.89. The roughly 10 percent drop in the rate is not the same as the savings for customers, according to Michael S. Spiker, the city's director of utilities.

WILLIAMSPORT - A Newport News, Va., man was charged Thursday with stealing copper wire from an Allegheny Energy power station in Williamsport. Deon Lavar Stokes, 28, is facing one count of theft more than $500. Police allege in charging documents in Washington County District Court that Stokes sold 294 pounds of copper wire for $705.60 at Cumberland Valley Recycling in Hagerstown. A Washington County Sheriff's Department deputy wrote in charging documents that he was called to the recycling business on Thursday morning while Stokes was still there.

WILLIAMSPORT - The town failed to collect an electricity surcharge and forward it to the state for three years, Mayor James G. McCleaf II said Monday. The town owes the state $26,500 for 2000 to 2003, when it didn't collect the surcharge, according to a memo by Clerk/Treasurer James R. Castle. The Williamsport Town Council voted 5-0 on Monday to pay the state $6,625 a year for four years to make up for the debt. Castle's memo says it would be difficult and expensive to try to retroactively charge customers, especially since some accounts have changed hands.

andrews@herald-mail.com The City of Hagerstown is going back to Allegheny Energy Supply as its electricity supplier. The Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday approved a new five-year, $130 million contract that will mean higher prices. How much higher, though, hasn't been determined. Michael S. Spiker, manager of the Hagerstown Light Department, said the price of electricity delivered to the city went up 100 percent from 2004 to 2005. However, by negotiating a five-year, fixed-price contract, the city has kept the coming wholesale price increase to about 60 percent, he said.

shappell@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - A finalized Allegheny Energy Inc. refinancing plan, the company's top priority this year, was announced Monday, according to a company spokeswoman and a prepared news release. The deal, which includes acquiring $1.55 billion dollars in new debt to replace old borrowings, helped the company to reduced its debt by about $175 million and provided some much needed financial stability, the company said. Janice Lantz, a spokeswoman for Allegheny Energy, said the company used proceeds to refinance existing bank debt the company had until April 2005 to pay and used other cash to reduce other outstanding debts by about $175 million.

julieg@herald-mail.com Allegheny Energy is close to completing a $1.6 billion refinancing deal that prompted Standard & Poor's to issue a stable outlook for the utility's credit ratings on Tuesday, an S&P analyst said. "I think it's a milestone, an important milestone. That means they made it through some of the most difficult issues," said Tobias Hsieh, director of S&P's Utility, Energy and Project Finance Group in New York City. The credit rating agency did not upgrade the B rating for Allegheny Energy because the company still has too much debt, Hsieh said.

andrews@herald-mail.com Allegheny Energy's third-quarter losses were far lower in 2003 than in 2002, according to a summary released Friday. For the period covering July, August and September 2003, Allegheny's consolidated net losses were $51 million, compared to $263 million for the same period the previous year, the company said. Allegheny attributed much of the $212 million improvement to a decline in energy trading market losses. Net losses in energy trading decreased $243 million from 2002 to 2003, the company said.

julieg@herald-mail.com Allegheny Energy could be considering moving its corporate headquarters from southwest of Hagerstown to Pittsburgh, according to a New York energy analyst. Williams Capital energy analyst Christopher Ellinghaus said he based the comment in his report on "many little tidbits" he heard that made him think the utility would move to Pittsburgh. "I wouldn't say it's 100 percent. There are rumors," Ellinghaus said Thursday. Ellinghaus said he was not able to confirm the rumors with Allegheny's senior management.

julieg@herald-mail.com Two Allegheny Energy subsidiaries completed the sale of a long-term energy supply contract with California for $51 million less than originally announced, Allegheny officials said Monday. Allegheny Energy Supply Co. and Allegheny Trading Finance were to sell the contract for $405 million, but the sale price dropped to approximately $354 million, mostly due to the removal of contracts with a counterparty that were valued at $38.6 million, according to an Allegheny statement.