Manipulations

There is a need for a single “rulebook” to analyze alleged market manipulations in the wholesale electricity and natural gas markets of the United States and European Union (EU), according to a pair of economists with The Brattle Group, who propose an economic framework that they say would assist compliance efforts by distinguishing behavior that is patently manipulative and identifying safe harbors for legitimate trading.

Enron’s bankruptcy reorganization plan and the continuing revelations about its trading manipulations in the California market, left the proposed sale of its Portland General Electric utility to neighboring Portland-based Northwest Natural Gas Corp. hanging on an increasingly thin thread of hope last week. Portland General landed on Standard & Poor’s “CreditWatch Negative” listing, with a notation that if the sale unravels the electric utility’s ratings could fall to the “speculative” level.