As the energy marketing group for its parent company CenterPoint Energy, Inc., CenterPoint Energy Services (CES) provides a diverse range of competitive natural gas and electric services for commercial, wholesale and infrastructure customers. CES' customer-centric business approach has resulted in a customer retention rate of over 95 percent. Nearly 97 percent of our customers say they would recommend CES to others as a reliable energy supplier.

It's not unusual for CES to go the extra mile to help customers effectively manage their unique energy requirements. One such example comes from our St. Louis regional office. Throughout the past year, Blake Bastien, CES regional sales director, has been working closely with the Prairie State Generating Company, LLC (PSGC), a new coal-fired electric generation plant located in Marissa, Ill. When construction is completed in the summer of 2012, this plant will generate 1,600 megawatts of electricity that will reach more than 2.5 million customers in eight states, using what has been advertised as "clean, low-cost electricity." The power plant's design uses the latest technology so carbon dioxide emissions are expected to be approximately 15 percent lower than what is typically discharged from U.S. coal-fired plants.

This plant is located strategically at the mouth of a southern Illinois coal mine and has several supply options for its natural gas requirements. CES' Bastien has taken the lead in developing an operational strategy that continuously evaluates and optimizes natural gas supply to the plant. The strategic location of the plant allows for natural gas to be supplied by two interstate pipelines, NGPL and MRT, through the local distribution company (Ameren). The major operational challenge for all parties involved is how to supply and manage extreme changes in the amount of natural gas the plant uses on any given day.

During start-up operations and prior to using coal as a primary fuel, the plant will test equipment using natural gas quantities up to 23,000 MMBtu per day. By working closely with PSGC; its engineering consultant, Barnes, Henry, Meisenheimer and Gende; the two pipelines noted above; and Ameren, Bastien and his team are helping to minimize any issues associated with such an unpredictable load. On a typical gas day, the plant will nominate the volume of natural gas they expect to use. Ameren determines how these requirements will be delivered through one or both of the interstate pipelines. CES then ensures that strict scheduling timelines are met, so the right volume of natural gas is available at the right delivery point. On days when Ameren has no preference for how natural gas is supplied to the plant, CES and the plant work together to determine the lowest cost delivery option.

And CES' service does not stop there. When scheduled natural gas requirements change suddenly during the middle of a gas day, CES can make intra-day supply nomination changes, and minimize the extra costs involved in making these changes. In the event that short-notice nomination changes prove impractical, CES also has the flexibility to direct supply to other locations, deliver gas into storage facilities, or use park and loan services. It's all in a day's work for the CES operations team in the St. Louis office.

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