Energy efficiency cos' shares up on federal amendment

March 16 (Reuters) - Shares of Energy monitoring and efficiency companies Comverge Inc and EnerNoc Inc rose on Wednesday, a day after a federal amendment aimed at paving the way for payment parity between energy conservation firms and power generators.

The demand response companies work with power grid operators, utilities and large electricity consumers to reduce energy use during expensive peak hours, easing pressure on the grid.

As per the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) amendment, wholesale power utilities would have to pay demand response resources on par with power generators, which would result in lower overall cost for customers.

Users get paid by power utilities for reducing consumption when prices are high.

"The impact of the ruling is unlikely to be fully realized until late 2012, but it is nevertheless a positive for the sector," analyst Michael Cox of Piper Jaffray said in a note to clients.

Comverge Shares were trading up 9 percent at $4.65, while EnerNoc shares were up 8 percent on Nasdaq on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Vaishnavi Bala in Bangalore; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu)

(vaishnavi.bala@thomsonreuters.com)(within U.S. +1 646 223 8780)(outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800)(Reuters Messaging:vaishnavi.bala.reuters.com@reuters.net))