Report names 60 companies involved in California energy price fixing

A 1,000-page report filed this week by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) names nearly 60 companies allegedly involved in a price fixing scam that precipitated the state’s 2000-2001 energy crisis. The list, handed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), includes the two companies –- Duke Energy and AES/Williams -- subpoenaed in November by a federal grand jury for alleged involvement in driving up energy prices during the crisis.

A coalition including the CPUC and the state’s attorney general claims the report supports both its outstanding demand for $7.5 billion in consumer refunds and a demand for almost $9 billion to cover the cost of emergency energy purchases. A FERC judge ruled in December that the state was only owed $1.8 billion in overcharges.

FERC’s three commissioners have promised to issue a final ruling in the case by the end of March.