Safeway grocery chain seeks FERC authority to buy and sell power

Washington (Platts)--27Jan2006

Safeway Inc, with more than 1,800 grocery stores in the US, is looking to
gain market-based rate authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
to buy and sell power.

     The move, which was approved by FERC's division of tariffs and market
development for the West, would allow Safeway to buy power for its own
facilities and resell it to wholesale customers. Wal-Mart currently does that
for all of its stores in Texas, making it one of the few retail chains to
procure power on its own rather than use a retail marketer or aggregator.

     FERC's director of the division of tariffs and market development, Steve
Rodgers, approved Safeway's application for market-based rate authority Jan 20
after no parties objected and commission staff found the company does not have
market power in generation or transmission and meets FERC's other
requirements.

     The commission issued a Jan 23 notice that any protests or objections to
Safeway's plan should be filed by Feb 21.

     Calls to Safeway seeking comment on their plans have not been returned. 

     When Wal-Mart's efforts at buying and selling power in Texas became known
last year, retail marketers expressed doubt that other companies would follow
suit, asserting that few companies are willing to take on the risk of being
their own supplier in an area that's not part of their core business. 

                ---Tom Tiernan, tom_tiernan@platts.com

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