Noting new federal energy regulators offered a “refreshing, problem-solving approach,” California Gov. Gray Davis said his 90-minute meeting in Sacramento Monday with FERC Commissioners Pat Wood and Nora M. Brownell was “both constructive and informative,” although there was no apparent resolution to the state’s nagging wholesale natural gas and electricity pricing problems.

The governor expressed hope for joint California-federal power plant inspections, as well as increased data sharing between state and federal regulators.

“From my conversations with these Commissioners, it appears that FERC may finally be poised to do its job controlling energy costs,” Davis said in a prepared statement.

Davis noted that refunding $8.9 billion in overcharges continues to be his “top priority,” and that the California delegation is represented as a single voice in the settlement conference before FERC Administrative Law Judge Curtis L Wagner in Washington, DC.

“The success of this settlement conference hinges on cooperation from generators who have been gouging Californians for the past year,” Davis said. “I will be vigilant in insisting that Californians get their money back.”

While the commissioners said their legal authority was more limited with natural gas, Davis said they agreed with him that making the natural gas market more competitive is essential. “The Commissioners reassured me that this would be at the top of their priority list,” he said.

The governor said he also discussed his meeting earlier Monday with the former workers at Duke Energy’s Chula Vista power plant, noting that he suggested that FERC aggressively investigate allegations of withholding power (see Daily GPI, June 25). Davis said there was a mutual agreement “to strengthen enforcement efforts by FERC to inspect plants that are shut down for unscheduled maintenance.”

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