Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is investigating the actions of power suppliers during a recent bone-chilling freeze that blanketed the Northeast, saying he has information that some generators sold natural gas on the spot market that could have otherwise been used for their own power plants during the recent power supply crunch.

“Reliable and deeply disturbing information has come to our attention that certain electricity generating companies may have sold natural gas that could and should have been used for providing electricity to Connecticut consumers — seeking to profit from the exceptionally low temperatures and high gas prices,” Blumenthal said in a prepared statement.

Blumenthal said that such “profiteering is immoral and illegal, endangering the health and safety of Connecticut residents and potentially violating consumer protection and antitrust laws.” He has asked the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) and FERC to join him in an immediate investigation.

“There’s no excuse for power generators selling their natural gas supplies on the spot market so as to create a shortage of electricity simply so they can increase their profits,” Blumenthal said. “Natural gas is vital to fueling electricity generating plants, as well as heating homes, hospitals and other vital public facilities. We are putting the electricity generating companies on notice that any profiteering by illegal use of natural gas supplies will be prosecuted promptly and vigorously under both civil and criminal laws.”

ISO New England on Jan. 16 said that the forecast for regional electricity demand was expected to reach 22,800 MW, exceeding the record for winter demand set the previous day of 22,727 MW.

Meanwhile, the Hartford Courant quoted electric power industry representatives as saying that the practice in question is acceptable under New England energy trading rules.

“It’s a practice that has existed since natural gas-fired power generation’s been around,” Neal Costello, general counsel for the Competitive Power Coalition, told the newspaper. The coalition is a group of 12 power plant owners in the region. “It’s nothing new. There are no scandals here and it’s disappointing that anyone would intimate that there was. We welcome the attorney general’s investigation.”

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