SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

                                Washington, D.C.

                                    FORM U-57

                 NOTIFICATION OF FOREIGN UTILITY COMPANY STATUS

                        Filed under Section 33(a) of the

             Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, as amended

                          GASES DEL QUINDIO S.A.E.S.P.

                         ..............................
                            (Name of foreign company)

                               NORAM ENERGY CORP.

                          .............................
    (Name of filing company, if filed on behalf of a foreign utility company)


Item 1

         The name of the entity claiming foreign utility company status is Gases
del Quindio  S.A.E.S.P.,  a Colombian  corporation  ("Gases del  Quindio"),  the
business  address of which is Edificio Camara de Comercio,  Carrera 14 No. 23-15
Oficina 1011, Armenia, Quindio, Colombia. Gases del Quindio will provide natural
gas to  residential  and  industrial  customers  through  pipelines  it  will be
building in the Colombian State of Quindio.

         Based on currently  available  information,  the following is a summary
description  of  the  facilities  to be  used  by  Gases  del  Quindio  for  the
distribution of natural gas:

                           Gases del Quindio  expects by the end of year 1997 to
                           have 39,106 meters of pipeline  with seven  regulator
                           stations  in the State of  Quindio  and will  serve a
                           total of 1,473 customers.

         Based on the most recent data available, the following own five percent
or more of any class of voting securities of Gases del Quindio:

                  Empresa de Energia del Quindio S.A.                  23.28%
                  Gas Natural E.S.P.                                   16.00
                  NorAm Latin America, Inc.                            16.00
                  Gases del Caribe S.A.E.S.P.                           8.00
                  Surtidora de Gas Caribe S.A.E.S.P.                    8.00

Item 2

         The name of the  domestic  associate  public-utility  company  is NorAm
Energy Corp., a Delaware corporation  ("NorAm").  NorAm Latin America, Inc. is a
Delaware  corporation  and is a wholly owned  subsidiary of NorAm. No portion of
the purchase price for the shares owned in Gases del Quindio was paid by NorAm.






                                    SIGNATURE


The  undersigned  company  has duly caused  this  statement  to be signed on its
behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

                                      NORAM ENERGY CORP.


                                      By:
                                      /s/Hubert Gentry, Jr.
                                      Senior Vice President and General Counsel



Date:    August 1, 1997