Items on Chron.com and elsewhere related to energy: • Dow will cut production, contract jobs at Freeport complex • Austin wants to be green energy capital • U.S. auto bailout: still a ridiculously bad idea • The Dozen Auto Companies that Aren’t Going Bankrupt • US NRC accepts Luminant application to build Texas nuclear units [...]  More »

You can’t be “fined,” but you might be charged a fee. Customers disputing high electricity bills who want CenterPoint Energy to come out and re-read their meters might find themselves paying an extra $6. In today’s story about Houstonians who continue to wrestle with high power bills that date back to problems stemming from Hurricane [...]  More »

To no one’s surprise, NRG Energy has formally said no to Exelon’s offer to buy them out. NRG already rejected the unofficial offer on Nov. 9 and is now rejecting the same offer the Chicago-based power giant is bringing to individual shareholders of NRG, Texas’ No. 2 power company. It’s all about the nukes: Well, [...]  More »

The folks at Houston investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. are considered pretty sharp when it comes to following the energy business. They also happen to be pretty funny, which makes their daily research notes welcome in most e-mail in boxes. Today they shared some thoughts on the recent news of Somali pirates hijacking [...]  More »

Houstonians still love their Hummers, Escalades and F-150s, but there’s a growing number of hybrids, microcars and now, 100-percent electric cars hitting the streets in the Bayou City. There’s long been an active community of electric car hobbyists, mainly centered around the Houston Electric Auto Association. This is assortment of gear heads, environmentalists and — [...]  More »

Online energy trading/M&A news site SparkSpread.com had an item today saying the folks at NRG Energy are considering buying the retail electric business of Houston-based Reliant Energy. Does NRG plus RRI equal HL&P? A marriage between two-thirds of the former integrated utility (CenterPoint is the missing link) is being rumored. According to Bloomberg’s summary of [...]  More »

Items on Chron.com and elsewhere related to energy: • Coal takes lumpsas China’s cuts clobber prices • Some residents getting a shock from their electric bills • Exxon ice road blocked • Ex-EPA Official Faults Probe of BP Alaska Oil Spill • Denali pipeline in Alaska files federal gas line right of way application • [...]  More »

Texas hasn’t missed out on an economic boom in 100 years. Is it about to miss the boat with “the new energy economy?” That’s the question asked by a report put out today by The Catalyst Project, the brain child of Austin PR man Colin Rowan. The author talks to a lot of big thinkers [...]  More »

Practice for confirmation hearings? Houston Mayor Bill White addresses Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, and others during a special House committee studying Hurricane Ike’s recovery covering governments and businesses affected by the storm to discuss power outages, gasoline shortages, lack of emergency housing and other issues Nov. 9, 2008 in Houston. Houston Mayor Bill White has [...]  More »

The Environmental Protection Agency was blocked Thursday from issuing a permit for a proposed coal-burning power plant in Utah without addressing global warming, a decision that could affect dozens of coal power projects around the country. The decision by an appeals panel at the EPA essentially punts the decision of CO2 regulation to the incoming [...]  More »

Items on Chron.com and elsewhere related to energy: • Public’s views sought on energy leases off Virginia • Government lowers 2009 gasoline price forecast to $2.37 a gallon • A future for Gas Hydrates in Alaska? • Bleak IEA outlook gives OPEC food for thought • E I, E I. A: No matter how you [...]  More »

Illinois-based power plant giant Exelon won’t sweeten its offer for NRG Energy, the second-largest power producer in Texas, according to this Reuters story: The glow of money: Exelon is interested in NRG in part for its stake in the South Texas Project nuclear plant near Bay City. The plant is the best performing nuke plant [...]  More »