It's as if a public utility, open seven days a week, has announced the abrogation of its civic franchise.

California's utility regulating panel this week announced a major settlement with four of the state's largest power producers that will reward companies for improvements in energy conservation.

Just a few weeks ago, four Japanese utilities announced they were suspending imports of enriched uranium from South Africa and neighboring Namibia.

Two American utilities, seeking to gain experience and profits in the deregulated industry overseas, have announced separate acquisitions of foreign electricity distributors totaling about $4 billion.

Today, the two utilities announced they had agreed to postpone that window for three years.

Late last month, two utilities in the Midwest announced a merger, citing "the advent of deregulation and increasing competition."

But yesterday evening, after the Democratic Party officials raised questions about it, the utilities announced they would pull the advertisement off the air as soon as possible.

Governments and utilities around the region announced measures to cope with both the blackout threat and the expected high temperatures.

The chief of nuclear operations at Northeast Utilities' Millstone Station has resigned after less than a year, the utility announced yesterday.

Although he had opposed higher electric bills, the provincially owned electric utility, Ontario Hydro, has just announced plans to raise consumer rates by 11.8 percent.