Power Providers Won’t Have to Pay Refunds

Duke Energy Corp., Dynegy Inc. and other power sellers won’t owe California buyers hundreds of millions of dollars for some sales that are part of a proceeding in which the state is seeking about $1.5 billion in refunds, a judge said.

Some power that buyers and sellers agreed to days before it was delivered should be ineligible for refunds even if those transactions were processed through a state exchange that mostly handled same-day power sales, said Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Judge Bruce Birchman.

Including those sales would be a “mischaracterization of the markets,” Birchman said at a pre-hearing conference on which sales should be included as potential refunds are calculated.