[Mind-numbed Robot]

As the middleman for power sales, they made money whether the price of power was going up or going down.

Do you mind giving us economics challenged folks an explanation of that? A couple of examples will suffice. Keep in mind that the sales price to the consumer was fixed and that many of the steps normally in play in a free market were frozen by law.

[Dog Gone]

Consumer prices were fixed, but wholesale prices were not. At times there were maximum caps imposed, but the price Cal ISO paid for power fluctuated all the time. Enron wasn't producing any of the power it sold; it was merely serving as the market wholesale distributor.

In essence, they were paid for providing a service, and the price per megawatt didn't matter.