Regulators Dismiss Complaint Against Electricity Marketer

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday dismissed a manipulation complaint brought by California’s grid operator against Powerex Corp., the electricity marketing arm of British Columbia’s provincial utility.

The Folsom-based California Independent System Operator alleged that from October 2004 to March Powerex collected $18.5 million in incentive payments even though no energy was delivered to the California spot market. The incentives were designed to encourage out-of-state providers to quickly respond to calls to export power to California.

The commission, however, found that Cal-ISO’s payments to Powerex were caused by flaws in the grid operator’s rules that have since been corrected.

Powerex spokeswoman Elisha Moreno said the company was pleased that the ruling underscored that “we were not involved in any wrongdoing or manipulation.”

Cal-ISO said it had moved quickly to strengthen its rules and had not seen a repeat of the bidding and payments problems.