Posted on 03/04/2005 10:33:21 AM PST by Robert357
Powerex, a wholly owned subsidiary of B.C. Hydro in Canada, expressed outrage last week over California Attorney General Lockyer's latest lawsuit seeking US$850 million in refunds from Powerex for power deliveries that kept California's lights on during the 2000/2001 power crisis.
“It is frankly the height of bad faith for California to seek to welch on its contracts and demand money back, when it still owes Powerex more than $280 million for the power that was delivered during 2000/2001,” said Doug Little, vice president, Powerex. “We responded to the entreaties of the California government in their time of need, and this suit proves that no good deed goes unpunished.”
Powerex was a major supplier to California during its power crisis. Even though Powerex was a net importer to B.C. and had no surplus available, Powerex was able to purchase and deliver large quantities of electricity by drawing on the capability of the B.C. Hydro system. These supplies were delivered on short notice and kept California's transmission grid in balance. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has thoroughly examined Powerex's conduct regarding sales to California, and has consistently rejected California's claims of market manipulation and other misconduct.
As FERC's staff concluded in October 2003 after a thorough investigation: "Evidence provided by Powerex shows that, despite the drought conditions that prevailed in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest in 2000-2001, Powerex was able to draw on the capacity and capability of BC Hydro's predominately hydroelectric system to be a major supplier of energy, particularly real-time imbalance energy and ancillary services to California. . . This evidence demonstrates Powerex's reliability as a supplier and its contribution toward keeping the lights on in California during the crisis."
The FERC staff determined that Powerex was "a valuable and reliable supplier" to California, and found no evidence whatever to support California's claims of market manipulation or price gouging, according to the Powerex release.
“We believe that California grossly mismanaged its energy affairs prior to and during the crisis, which was largely self-inflicted,” continued Little. “They failed to construct adequate generation, did not have adequate transmission in place and passed some of the worst energy statutes ever enacted. Now they seek to make Powerex a scapegoat to divert political attention away from their own ineptitude.”
Powerex is in the process of reviewing California's lawsuit and intends to respond vigorously to its allegations.
If California continues to bit the hand that helps it, pretty soon when they get into a serious power shortage problem, a lot of folks will be reluctant to help.
Well, well, well!!! Thank ya Robert... Hey Ernest! Ya got the ol energy ping and pong lists at the ready... Fire!!!
The residents of Alberta and B.C. benefitted greatly because these utilities paid royalties to the provincial governments for gas extraction on provincial lands, and these royalties were passed on to the people in the form of rebates on their utility bills.
By late 2001, my combined gas and electric bill was somewhere around $15 per month.
Davis and his friends should be in jail for what they did to the people of California. Too bad the teachers union has had such a long run in California. They've been able to dumb down the population to the extent that more than half of the voting public doesn't know it's ass from a hole in the ground.
ARRRGGGHHHH!!!
I live in a very compressed space, Electric heating which I don't dare turn on, turn off lights in a nanosecond, have fluorescent desk lamps mostly, energy saver overhead spotlights, seldom used, use Microwave only , oven seldom, and with all the taxes, still pay close to $50 a month.
Added some new names....
This is LockJaw working for some votes, causing all this pain and hatefulness.
California has some nerve. My electric bill (in Colorado) went up as we were forced to pay some of the price for California's mismanagement.
I hope all power companies remember this lawsuit the next time California's government creates a power shortage.
I just turned in a Canadian who cut me off in traffic yesterday...jibber jabbering on the cell phone.
The story seems like it should have been about Powerex suing California.
My electric bill in Washington state went up as we were forced to pay some of the price for California's mismanagement (along with some mismanagement by utilities up here and along with some cheating on natural gas prices). My two-month winter electric bill is usually over $350, before I switched to wood heat (I now pollute the atmosphere).
I have a woodburning stove, too, and a lot of firewood since Colorado's been in a severe drought, but lately I've been too busy/unmotivated to go out and fetch the wood in. Plus the stove's so darned messy. All that soot. And I just had 12" of insulation blown into my attic, so I'm interested to see how that affects my heat bill. I'm out in the sticks, so I have to use propane. No natural gas from town.
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