Admits

Duke Energy told federal regulators last Thursday that it participated in 28 round-trip trades over the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) trading platform, or five more than it previously disclosed in early July in an initial report. All of the sham energy transactions apparently were designed to boost trading volumes, according to the company.

Duke Energy told federal regulators Thursday that it participated in 28 round-trip trades over the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) trading platform, or five more than it previously disclosed in early July in an initial report. All of the sham energy transactions apparently were designed to boost trading volumes, according to the company.

Duke Energy told federal regulators Tuesday it participated in round-trip, or “wash,” trading activities, but said it did not do so “for the purpose” of inflating reported revenues or influencing prices. Nevertheless, the trades did result in a relatively small gain in revenues, the company said, while also admitting to a small number of bogus transactions that were intended to boost trading volumes.

Duke Energy told federal regulators Tuesday it participated in round-trip, or “wash,” trading activities, but said it did not do so “for the purpose” of inflating reported revenues or influencing prices. Nevertheless, the trades did result in a relatively small gain in revenues, the company said, while also admitting to a small number of bogus transactions that were intended to boost trading volumes.

In what it even admits is an “unusual” move, the FERC Office of General Counsel’s Market Oversight and Enforcement Section (MOE) has called for a “more complete investigation” into whether El Paso Natural Gas violated the Commission’s open-access regulations by refusing to provide interruptible transportation (IT) service last winter to customers in an attempt to maintain “upward pressure” on prices for natural gas delivered to the Southern California border.

FERC Chief Administrative Law Judge Curtis Wagner has ordered El Paso Merchant Energy Co. (EPME) to produce a copy of a highly sensitive internal memorandum, which allegedly reveals the intimate working relationship between parent El Paso Corp. and affiliates El Paso Natural Gas and EPME, into the record of a high-profile case exploring charges of affiliate and market-power abuse.

FERC Chief Administrative Law Judge Curtis Wagner has ordered El Paso Merchant Energy Co. (EPME) to produce a copy of a highly sensitive internal memorandum, which allegedly reveals the intimate working relationship between parent El Paso Corp. and affiliates El Paso Natural Gas and EPME, into the record of a high-profile case exploring charges of affiliate and market-power abuse.

Admitting the possibilities for market abuse in its currentsystem, California’s Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) lastweek responded to federal regulators’ criticism of its congestionmanagement approach. The ISO suggested interim changes for the restof this year while it works out a broadly based congestion plan.Both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Cal-ISO agreedthere is “a serious flaw in the existing intra-zonal managementscheme” for the California grid operations.

Admitting the possibilities for market abuse in its currentsystem, California’s Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) thisweek responded to federal regulators’ criticism of its congestionmanagement approach. The ISO suggested interim changes for the restof this year while it works out a broadly based congestion plan toaddress the admitted shortcomings in its zonal pricing approach.Both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Cal-ISO agreedthere is “a serious flaw in the existing intra-zonal managementscheme” for the California grid operations.