Ferc Focuses on California Power Plants

-

March 15, 2001

LOS ANGELES(UPI) -- Two energy companies that supply electricity to California said Thursday they were confident they could prove to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that they were justified in shutting down generating units. Williams Energy Marketing and Trading and AES Southland both say they did not try to raise electricity prices by closing the plants last spring. The regulatory agency Wednesday ordered both companies to show why they should not be ordered to refund nearly $11 million to state utilities. California utilities had to pay higher prices for wholesale electricity after the generators were taken offline and the supply of power available was reduced. FERC said its examination of the incidents indicated that Williams and AES had a financial incentive to keep the generators shut down. "Once all the facts are on the table, we are confident it will be clear that Williams conducts business legally, within the terms of our contracts and tariff obligations," Williams President Bill Hobbs told the Los Angeles Times. AES officials also said they had done nothing wrong and noted that a large amount of the electricity produced by their Orange County generators had not yet been paid for by the utilities. Both companies said the plants were closed for repair work to be completed. The FERC order comes amid strained relations between the Washington agency and the state, which has repeatedly failed to convince FERC to place a price cap on wholesale power prices in the West.