Power Engineering - Energy Transaction Repository introduced as a new proposed solution for the natural gas index issue

PHILADELPHIA, PA, June 12, 2003 -- The Energy Transaction Repository (ETR) announces the public inauguration of its proposed solution to the natural gas pricing and index issue. ETR is a non-profit data aggregator that proposes to collect transaction data from market participants and provide services to match, verify and confirm the transactions. ETR will then share that data with index providers, relevant government and oversight entities, and approved external audit firms.

In addition, ETR will provide timely deal confirmations to each counterparty and send the confirmed and unconfirmed data back to each market participant's internal audit or risk oversight personnel on a daily basis to foster compliance and self-policing needs.

"The benefits of providing confirmations to deals goes beyond eliminating duplication for price reporting purposes; it provides an independent daily verification for internal audit, external audit and government compliance requirements." states Peter Weigand, Chairman and CEO of Skipping Stone.

ETR is not an index provider; rather the proposed plan would work in tandem and conjunction with the current index providers.

Managed by independent employees with an elected broad-based stakeholder board, ETR was crafted with input from several Skipping Stone clients in response to the myriad of industry working groups focusing on the issue of reliability of natural gas pricing indices, as well as FERC and congressional calls to action.

The ETR proposed solution documents have been presented for comment to the CCRO, NGSA, APGA, AGA, INGAA, EMIT, PGC, FERC and over fifty individual companies. " The ETR has received numerous constructive suggestions from the trade organizations, companies, and individuals addressing this issues," states Greg Lander, Skipping Stone Principal and Interim ETR Coordinator. "We are seeking as much additional feedback as possible on the proposed solution and have posted a web survey to bolster our efforts," added Lander.

In addition, the ETR working group has identified readily available technology that will enable the ETR solution to be implemented within three to six months of approval. "By utilizing existing technology, the overall cost of start up and savings in ongoing operations significantly reduces the burden to the industry," stated Weigand.

A free set of downloadable documents describing the ETR solution, as well as the web survey can be found at www.skippingstone.com. If you are interested in participating in the ETR working group, please contact Peter Weigand or Greg Lander at pweigand@skippingstone.com or glander@skippingstone.com.

Skipping Stone, Inc. is an independent energy consulting firm founded by visionary leaders from the energy industry. Skipping Stone's proven professionals serve the energy marketplace with a broad mix of products and services that assist companies from initial business planning through maturity. More information is available at www.skippingstone.com.

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