FERC approves settlement with Canadian utility in California Crisis
WASHINGTON -- - The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently approved a $1.3 million settlement with Powerex, a unit of Canada's B.C. Hydro, to resolve allegations that it manipulated electricity markets during California's energy crisis.
The agreement settles allegations that Powerex used trading tactics to inflate energy prices during the 2000-01 crisis.
Last year, FERC commissioners ordered some 43 major utilities, smaller energy traders and city-owned utilities to prove they did not violate trading rules to boost profits.
Powerex and other companies denied any wrongdoing and said the soaring electricity costs simply reflected market conditions and California's poorly designed electricity deregulation plan. Powerex will return $1.3 million in revenues to its customers to settle charges that it "participated in alleged gaming practices" with failed energy trading giant Enron Corp., FERC said in its order.
The utility, owned by the province of British Columbia, welcomed the initial deal reached with FERC trial staff in October as a way to end costly litigation.
Related News
Opinion: Fossil-fuel workers ready to support energy transition
EDMONTON - Except for an isolated pocket of skeptics, there is now an almost universal acceptance that climate change is a global emergency that demands immediate and far-reaching action to defend our home and future generations. Yet in Canada we remain largely focused on how the crisis divides us rather than on the potential for it to unite us.
It’s not a case of fossil-fuel industry workers versus the rest, or Alberta versus British Columbia. We are all in this together. The challenge now is how to move forward in a way that leaves no one behind.
The fossil fuel industry has…
