Posted on 07/17/2002 7:48:31 PM PDT by lewislynn
HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Business
July 17, 2002, 4:32PM
WASHINGTON - U.S. energy regulators said today that a natural gas pipeline owned by bankrupt Enron Corp overcharged firms shipping gas to California during the state's power crisis and must pay refunds.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Enron's Transwestern Pipeline charged unjust rates to San Diego-based Sempra Energy Richardson Products Co. and other companies for natural gas shipments that were primarily used to fuel California's electricity generating plants.
California officials had accused the shipping firms of being willing to pay the higher transportation rates so they could then charge higher energy prices in the state.
FERC, in its order posted on its Web site, did not specify the total amount of refunds or name all the companies that are due money, saying only that Transwestern must make the payments within 30 days.
Other companies believed to have paid higher shipping rates were Astra Power and units of Reliant Energy and BP.
"I'm disappointed in the behavior here, very much so," said FERC Chairman Pat Wood. "I'm disappointed in the violations of the tariffs by this (Transwestern) pipeline."
The FERC action overturned an October ruling by an agency administrative law judge, who found no evidence of wrongdoing.
The refund order comes at a time when FERC is separately investigating Enron's trading unit and dozens of other natural gas and electricity traders to determine if any tried to inflate prices during California's power crisis that began in late 2000 and ended in mid-2001.
A ten-fold jump in wholesale electricity prices caused a series of blackouts and the bankruptcy of California's largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, owned by PG&E Corp.
Agency commissioners scolded Transwestern for charging almost 100 times its regulated transportation tariff of 38 cents per roughly 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas during the winter of 2000-01.
For example, Transwestern charged Sempra $231,817 and Richardson Products $143,283 for gas shipments on Feb. 14, 2001. Under its tariff, Transwestern should have charged slightly less than $3,800 for each contract per day, FERC said.
"We conclude that Transwestern failed to comply with the tariff posting requirements. Transwestern therefore must return those profits ... plus interest to all of the firm transmission shippers on its system at the time," a FERC order said.
FERC also restricted Transwestern's ability to negotiate rate agreements with shippers for one year.
The Transwestern Pipeline stretches a total of 2,700 miles from southern California to markets in the Midwest and Northeast.
Transwestern is still operating despite the collapse of Enron and recently completed a $72 million pipeline project in Arizona.
In a related matter, FERC asked for public comment on whether it should change the agency's policies on allowing natural gas pipeline owners to negotiate rates with shipping customers.
Specifically, FERC is reviewing if regulated rates that have specified maximum prices are a viable alternative and safeguard against market manipulation of interstate gas pipelines.
The agency will take comments from energy companies, pipelines and consumer groups until mid-August.
What part of Bankruptcy don't the regulators understand?
Companies can continue while the corporation holding company is being reorganized, I presume!
Regulators?...how can "deregulated" natural gas have "regulators"....What part of "deregulation" do they not understand?....
Oh I get it, "deregulation" doesn't really mean what THEY want US TO THINK it means.
Calpowercrisis:
| To find all articles tagged or indexed using Calpowercrisis, click below: | ||||
| click here >>> | Calpowercrisis | <<< click here | ||
| (To view all FR Bump Lists, click here) | ||||
Steve Peace is not an Assemblyman and had nothing to do with deregulating natural gas and a little to do with the Republican's phony deregulation of electricity in Cal.
You'll find his name among others in the link as "Principal coauthors" and Introduced by: Assembly member (then Assembly speaker) (R) Jim Brulte.
And if you view source you'll see this : < meta name="AUTHOR" content="Brulte > "
FERC Rejects Calif Attempt To Challenge Some Power Deals
Also, FERC has some interesting stuff on their website this AM. Too bad Robert357 is on vacation.
Commission Orders Overhaul of California ISO Governing Board, Stress Needs for Independence [126k .pdf]
Is there anybody here who can convert these to text and post them?
"We find that the continuation of the existing Board will hamper the ability of the CAISO to implement the CAISO’s market redesign proposal, and thus this Commission’s ability to ensure non-discriminatory transmission services and just and reasonable rates in the West.This is because the State-controlled Governing Board of the CAISO (Board) is not capable of operating its interstate transmission facilities on a non-discriminatory basis. The Board continues to be in non-compliance with our December 15, 2000 order, establishing remedies for the California electricity markets, and Order No. 888, governing independent system operators.
[snip]
Because of these problems with the current Board, we direct the CAISO, following the procedures discussed below, to adopt a two-tier form of governance by January 1, 2003. The top tier will consist of an independent, non-stakeholder Board, while the lower tier will consist of an advisory committee (or committees) of stakeholders, which may recommend options to the Board, and an advisory committee of the California Electricity Oversight Board (Oversight Board), which will serve as the state of California's (State) and its agencies' representative in advising the Board. The top tier will have sole decision-making authority in all matters.
FERC just fired Gray Davis's hand-picked board!
You're the one who continues to fail to understand.
I have told you this before and apparently you are simply unable to comprehend it. I will try typing in bold type this time to see if that makes a difference.
Natural gas PRICES have been deregulated.
The TRANSPORTATION of natural gas is still regulated.
It's not a hard concept to grasp.
A ten-fold jump in wholesale electricity prices caused a series of blackouts and the bankruptcy of California's largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, owned by PG&E Corp.
As I said before, you can't be a little bit pregnant. And energy deregulation is a phony scam on the consumer.
The price on the spot market for natural gas was not affected by transportation costs whatsoever. If the demand wasn't there, the prices would fall, even below cost if necessary, to move it.
This story is a case of a pipeline company who was hosing other companies, and it has nothing to do with the consumer at all.
None of this will change your repeated mantra, which you repeat endlessly in spite of overwhelming evidence.
I don't think we disagree on this statement!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.