Bill; Mike Cashell (MPC's Transmission Mgr.)
just phoned me concerned, beca= use MPC's Real-Time group requested EPMI purchase energy for them under our=  existing Energy Imbalance structure, and was notified by our Real-Time gro= up that due to the newly implemented FERC price cap, we were have difficult= y securing any resources.
Just to clarify things, we are settling MPC's Ch= oice customers Energy Imbalance position, and PP&L Montana has the right to=  any length resulting from MPC's "domestic" load Energy Imbalance.
In othe= r words MPC is settling two separate Energy Imbalance accounts, so during t= he hour they may be turning energy back to PP&L Montana, while at the same = time finding themselves short for the Choice loads.
During the recent bull= ish pricing conditions, Choice customer were leaving themselves long, as of=  late, MPC is experiencing the Choice customers doing the opposite, positio= ning themselves short.
The net result is that MPC will most likely be expe= cting us to fill a short position from this point on, so I'd really like to=  see what we can do to honor their requests, mindful of the favorable posit= ion we've enjoyed over the last several months.
Let me know if you'd like t= o discuss this further, or better yet if you've got a workable solution to = the problem.
In the meantime, thanks again to you and your staff for the o= utstanding performance thus far in dealing with MPC.
John

Montana Power Company (MPC) Energy Imbalance