Dem Lawmakers Ask Bush To Push FERC On Calif Elec Refunds

Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Oct 19

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--More than 30 Democratic Congressmen from western states are urging U.S. President George W. Bush to tell the chief of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to take "immediate action" to refund billions of dollars to California electricity consumers.

In a ruling last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that FERC was wrong to limit the amount of refunds due to California electricity consumers who were overcharged during the state's 2000-01 energy crisis.

FERC had found that it only had the authority to issue refunds for transactions over a nine-month period, but the court found that FERC needs to rethink that logic. "In short, the court found that FERC failed to enforce the law and unfairly denied billions in potential refunds," the lawmakers wrote.

The lawmakers sent the letter to Bush as well as the FERC chairman, Patrick Wood III.

U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi signed the letter along with other Democrats from California including Reps. Henry Waxman and Lois Capps .

"Today we are urging you to repudiate FERC's previous action and call upon the commission not to appeal the court's decision. Instead, FERC should use the full range of its authority to ensure that consumers are made whole for the entire period during which Enron (ENRNQ) and other energy companies manipulated the market in the West."

-By Maya Jackson Randall , Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9263; Maya.Jackson- Randall@dowjones.com

Dow Jones Newswires 10-19-04 1555ET