FERC Says State Has Plenty of Data

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission?s investigation of alleged price manipulators has provided California with sufficient access to data, according to a rehearing denial by the agency May 5. ?The California parties have access to almost 2.2 terabytes of information, clearly enough to enable them to decide how to proceed in cases,? stated the commission. Regulators said that the only type of data not available was Enron employees? personal information, adding that releasing documents with redacted information was infeasible. Enron requested a rehearing for the opposite reasons, maintaining that the commission ?acted arbitrarily and capriciously? when it released documents to the public in the first place, but the commission found that Enron presented no evidence to persuade it that the release was erroneous. At this week?s meeting, FERC also outlined new policies for reliability-must-run units. Its pricing guidelines, however, won?t affect California much, according to California Independent System Operator spokesperson Stephanie McCorkle. The policy is aimed at the PJM Interconnection, which, unlike California, does not have must-run units under contract. Units the California grid operator requires for reliability are under contract and allow a premium in order for the operator to call on them when needed. In other federal regulatory news, FERC favors competition in the marketplace. However, in its report on natural gas indices this week, it is not so sure about unsupervised media competition in the index market. Staff recommended the commission convene hearings to get industry response, start conferences that address the ?fundamental issue of market liquidity,? and require index developers to provide the commission with access to their data in investigations. The latter could easily lead to shield law confrontations in which media can claim their sources are confidential. Energy trading has relied on price indices put together by private media companies such as Platts. However, the credibility of those postings has been questioned at both the federal and state levels, with former employees testifying that large energy companies could influence price postings.

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FERC Says State Has Plenty of Data

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