The consumer advocacy part of the California Public UtilitiesCommission is trying to get state regulators to second guesswinning bids on the final natural gas-fired power plants PacificGas and Electric Co. auctioned last year. The auction resulted inSouthern Company being awarded three winning bids for plants in theSan Francisco Bay Area totaling 3,065 MW and using up to 50 MMcf/dof gas.

The Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) in an eleventh-hour moveis arguing that Southern’s $801 million purchase represents anundue market concentration in the newly divested power plant marketin California, so the CPUC should consider ordering PG&E tosell some of the generation capacity to a second place bidderinstead of Southern. PG&E’s utility urged the CPUC to rejectthe ORA’s protest. “We think the ORA claim is totally withoutmerit,” a PG&E utility spokesperson said.

Aside from ORA being late in its protest, the combinationutility emphasized through a spokesperson that the sales of itsfossil fuel and geothermal power plants in the past two yearsessentially “de-concentrates” power plant ownership in the state,and that the total megawatts sold to other merchant power operatorsfar exceed the 3,000 megawatts Southern has purchased. Finally, interms of market-power issues, PG&E’s utility argues that theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission has ultimate authority todecide if Southern can sell its power at market-based rates.

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