Electricity Wholesalers Ordered To Give Refunds

Order Calls For Payback Of $69 Million In Excessive Charges

SACRAMENTO, 7:38 p.m. EST March 9, 2001 -- Federal regulators have ordered electricity wholesalers to refund $69 million in excessive charges to California utilities.

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But that's hundreds of millions of dollars less than state officials sought.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found that January electricity prices that wholesalers charged the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state's power grid, and the Power Exchange, the state's electricity trading center, exceeded "just and reasonable" amounts.

The ISO earlier this month told FERC that power suppliers should have to refund roughly $550 million that it says that they overcharged in December and January for the last-minute power that it buys to fill gaps in the grid and avoid blackouts.

FERC said that it looked only at January and would address December in a later order. In addition, it said that it could address only potentially excessive charges by private generators, not public utilities that sold to the grid and the exchange during that period.

The public utilities accounted for $170 million of the overcharging alleged by the ISO.

ISO spokeswoman Lorie O'Donley declined to comment on the federal order, saying that the agency's attorney would do so later Friday.

Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.