Ninth Circuit Court revives California bid for electricity refunds (Remember the Enron jokes?)

[Kadie]

Ninth Circuit Court revives California bid for electricity refunds
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, August 25, 2007


A federal appeals court has revived California's request for at least $1 billion in refunds to electricity customers, saying federal regulators who denied the repayments had ignored tapes in which Enron traders joked about gouging customers during the energy crisis of 2000-2001.

The ruling was issued Friday by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which repeatedly has found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission abused its authority or violated its own rules in considering the state's claims of multibillion-dollar overcharges during the energy crisis.

The commission eventually imposed limits on the energy charges in mid-2001 but has rejected most of the state's refund requests. Friday's ruling was the third since 2004 in which the appeals court has ordered the commission to reconsider separate refund claims of at least $1 billion.

In Friday's case, the court overturned two of the commission's decisions on refunds that California is seeking for power purchased by a state agency from suppliers in the Pacific Northwest.

In one, the commission said the state was ineligible for refunds because it had taken possession of the electricity in California rather than in the Pacific Northwest. The appeals court found that conclusion to be baseless.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/25/MNHERP3ID.DTL

[acmavm]

1. Where's the refund supposed to come from????

<snip>
The court told the commission to take another look at the case and consider the Enron evidence in deciding whether California was overcharged. Although the ruling does not require refunds, Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose office represented the state, said the court opened the door to as much as $1.3 billion in consumer repayments.

Brown's office said it had no details on how the refunds would be distributed if the commission approved them. Lawyers for power suppliers could not be reached for comment late Friday.