Bogus

Salespeople for U.S. Energy Savings Corp. falsely promised savings, circulated bogus petitions “to lower heating bills” and claimed to work for regulated utilities and the government to lure people into “some of the worst natural gas deals in Illinois history,” a consumer coalition charged in a complaint filed last week. The company, however, denied the allegations and said it will “vigorously defend the action.”

Salespeople for U.S. Energy Savings Corp. falsely promised savings, circulated bogus petitions “to lower heating bills” and claimed to work for regulated utilities and the government to lure people into “some of the worst natural gas deals in Illinois history,” a consumer coalition charged in a complaint filed Monday. The company, however, denied the allegations and said it will “vigorously defend the action.”

Three former Mirant and Cinergy Corp. natural gas traders pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring to report bogus trades to an industry publication between July and November 2000 in an attempt to manipulate gas price indexes.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas in Houston Wednesday set Sept. 29 as the new hearing date for former El Paso Corp. executive Todd Geiger. Prosecutors will use the intervening time to weigh whether to appeal the judge’s recent ruling, in which she dismissed a false reporting charge against the ex-energy trader (see Daily GPI, Aug. 29).

Disclosures by energy companies that employees filed bogus prices for natural gas with trade newsletters which compile price indices, as well as an unfavorable ruling against El Paso Natural Gas by a FERC judge last month, lend support to FERC staff’s proposal to toss out the spot gas price indices when it comes to computing the gas price component of potential refunds owed by California electricity generators, according to California regulators, the state’s Attorney General and a number of other parties.