A number of generators are up in arms over a recent bid by several California entities, including the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), to have FERC publicly disclose materials that power suppliers filed in response to data requests as part of the Commission’s ongoing probe into the possible manipulation of California’s energy markets.

In a Sept. 30 filing, the California entities filed a motion at FERC seeking the release of undisclosed documents, data and an index of documents, as well as a request that FERC direct power suppliers to submit working papers for various filings they previously made at the agency.

“Contrary to the California parties’ assertions, much of the data they are seeking — information collected by the Commission’s investigatory staff in its on-going investigations into allegations of misconduct in California’s organized spot markets — has correctly been withheld and is plainly beyond the scope of the March 21, 2003 order on which the California parties rely,” the generators said last Wednesday.

The March 21 order directed the release of information gathered in a FERC proceeding [PA02-2] related to possible misconduct by certain energy companies and their affiliates.

In seeking new disclosures, the generators said that the California parties have shown “blatant disregard” for the principles delineated in FERC’s Jan. 10 rejection of the California parties’ prior attempt to obtain materials submitted in response to staff’s investigation in the PA02-2 docket.

In the Jan. 10 order, FERC denied the California parties’ request for blanket access to documents submitted in the PA02-2 proceeding, determining that such documents would be released — if at all — only after the Commission completed its investigation of those matters.

“The California parties do not point to any changed circumstances since that time to justify a different result — indeed, many investigations are still ongoing and any release of submitted materials could jeopardize the staff’s ability to complete those investigations,” the generators argued.

More broadly, the suppliers said that the California entities are ignoring “the fact that releasing documents submitted in investigatory proceedings will have a chilling effect on future Commission investigations, as the Commission has previously recognized.”

The generators said that many parties have filed materials at FERC that contain commercially sensitive, proprietary and privileged and confidential information in reliance on the confidentiality provisions of the Commission’s regulations. “Disclosure of such data as requested by the California parties will inhibit the Commission’s ability to obtain such data in the future.”

Generators making the filing included Reliant Energy Power Generation, Mirant affiliates, Dynegy Power Marketing and Williams Power Co.

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