US FERC chief applauds Enron-California settlement

Washington (Platts)--15Jul2005

US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joseph Kelliher Friday
applauded the proposed settlement Enron reached with commission staff and
California parties resolving allegations that the bankrupt marketer gamed
power and natural gas markets during the 2000-2001 Western energy crisis.

Kelliher said the deal demonstrates the importance of reaching settlements in
the long-running energy crisis cases. "[T]his is a good time to remind parties
that it is in the best interests of everyone--consumers and power providers,
as well as the health of California energy market that supports the state's
economy--to settle the remaining disputes over power sales in 2000 and 2001,"
Kelliher said. 

The deal must be approved by FERC. He also stated that FERC's enforcement
staff was integral in reaching the settlement. If this deal is approved, "the
tally of settlements stemming from the 2000-2001 Western energy crisis that
the Commission has either accepted or helped realize is now nearly $6-bil,"
Kelliher said.

Meanwhile, the California parties officially asked FERC to stay the current
investigation into Enron because of the settlement. In a filing to the
agency's Chief Administrative Law Judge Curtis Wagner, California asked the
judge to suspend the current hearing schedule to allow the full commission to
consider the settlement (EL03-180). "[T]he MOU will, if approved as a
settlement by the commission...resolve all remaining issues in these
consolidated dockets as between Enron and the settling claimants," the
California parties said.

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