James R. Choukas-Bradley | McCarter & English, LLP

Jim helped pioneer the development of programs to prepay long-term, natural gas supplies at discounted rates funded by the issuance of municipal bonds that save municipal natural gas distribution systems and their customers millions of dollars annually.

James Choukas-Bradley advises public gas systems and their joint action agencies, individually and in groups, on their dealings with energy suppliers, pipelines, financial institutions, hedge counterparties and customers.

As a leading practitioner in helping public gas systems operate in the deregulated gas industry, he has assisted them with forming joint action agencies, developing financed natural gas supply acquisition programs and projects, developing publicly owned natural gas pipeline projects to attach competitive gas supplies, and negotiating market-leading supply and capacity management transactions.

Jim’s energy practice is national in scope and includes representing issuers of tax-exempt bonds in structured finance transactions, negotiating and drafting energy contracts, structuring retail rates and tariffs, negotiating hedging contracts, assisting in legislative efforts, and practicing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Prior to his legal career, Jim was a newspaper reporter and editor, a small business owner, and assistant to the city manager of a city of 15,000 people in New Hampshire. He is a musician and singer-songwriter. He is married to author Melanie Choukas-Bradley and father of two children.

Served as energy counsel and swap counsel to cooperative district Energy Southeast in an electric prepayment transaction with Morgan Stanley Energy Structuring, LLC (MSES). Energy Southeast issued approximately $600 million in tax-exempt bonds to fund the acquisition of a fixed quantity of electricity to be delivered over the 30-year term of a prepaid energy sales agreement with MSES. Energy Southeast will sell all of the electric energy acquired in the transaction to the Alabama Municipal Electric Authority (AMEA) at a rate that produces significant savings for AMEA’s member and their retail customers.

Served as energy counsel and commodity swap counsel to the Southeast Energy Authority (SEA), an energy joint action agency based in Alabama, in a transaction that issued $675 million of tax-exempt bonds to purchase a 30-year supply of natural gas to be sold at a substantial discount to market prices to six project participants—Salt River Project (which will use the natural gas to generate electricity for retail customers in Phoenix, Arizona); the City of Tallahassee, Florida (which will use the natural gas to generate electricity for retail customers in the Tallahassee area); The Southeast Alabama Gas District; Huntsville Utilities of the City of Huntsville, Alabama; Decatur Utilities of the City of Decatur, Alabama; and the Municipal Energy Acquisition Corporate, a Tennessee joint action agency, for sale to the City of Lebanon, Tennessee. Salt River Project and the City of Tallahassee have the option to switch their purchases from natural gas to electricity at points in the future.

Assisted The Black Belt Energy Gas District in securing a 30-year supply of natural gas that was funded by the issuance of $1 billion in gas supply revenue bonds; will later be distributed to several municipal utilities in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, and Ohio at discounted rates; and ultimately will provide significant cost savings to natural gas and electricity customers of these utilities.

Served as gas counsel to The Southeast Alabama Gas Supply District concerning a 30-year natural gas prepayment transaction funded by our client’s issuance of $970 million in tax-exempt municipal bonds. The transaction produced substantial natural gas commodity price savings for municipal natural gas systems in Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Virginia and will save the natural gas consumer millions in the first six years.

Served as lead transaction counsel, special gas counsel and commodity swap counsel for our client in a transaction that issued $446,760,000 of the District’s Gas Supply Revenue Bonds to purchase a 30-year supply of natural gas to be delivered to three Alabama gas districts—Clarke-Mobile Counties Gas District, The Marshall County Gas District, and The Southeast Alabama Gas District.

Represented The Tennessee Energy Acquisition Corporation as General Counsel in acquiring a 30-year supply of natural gas financed through the issuance of $516 million in tax-exempt bonds that will save more than $40 million to its customers over the life of the prepaid supply agreement.

Negotiated new North American Energy Standards Board Base contracts for the purchase and sale of natural gas for an Alabama public utility with five major natural gas marketing companies, significantly expanding the utility’s options for purchasing natural gas for the customers of its municipal natural gas system at the lowest possible price and on the most reliable possible basis.