L.A. Utility Is Cleared in Power Crisis

U.S. regulators found no evidence that the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power used improper bidding practices to manipulate electricity prices during California’s energy crisis, the utility said Wednesday.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s enforcement staff said in a letter dated May 12 that an investigation of the bidding practices had ended, the DWP said. The investigation focused on power bids during 2000.

FERC previously exonerated the city-owned utility of employing tactics used by Enron Corp. to manipulate prices during the energy crisis, the utility said in a statement. The DWP was able to sell excess electricity to other utilities, such as Edison International’s Southern California Edison Co. unit, that were facing shortages.

“FERC has closed its books,” Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn said in the statement. The May 12 letter confirms that the city utility “did nothing wrong during the energy crisis,” he said.

Hahn added that the utility still hoped to receive $166 million that it is owed for electricity sold during the crisis.

Power prices skyrocketed in the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001, leading to rolling blackouts for millions of utility customers.