http://www.boston.com/dailynews/182/nation/Report_says_California_grid_op:.shtml

Report says California grid operator behind power plant's output swings

By Associated Press, 7/1/2001 14:36

LOS ANGELES (AP) The operator of the state's power grid has acknowledged that it was responsible for swings in production at a power plant that Gov. Gray Davis said were evidence of price gouging by out-of-state energy companies, two newspapers reported Sunday.

The California Independent System Operator told its oversight board that records showed Duke Energy was following its orders to adjust output in order to help balance the grid and not to drive up prices, the Los Angeles Times and The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported.

Three former workers at a Duke Energy power plant near San Diego told state investigators on June 22 that production units were shut down in what they called a scheme to drive up electricity prices.

Duke responded last week with full-page ads in newspapers from California to its home state of North Carolina, saying production was increased and decreased at the order of the ISO.

The company said the three workers ''did not know and were not in an operational capacity to know that the ISO directs output.''

The ISO gave its analysis to selected lawmakers late Friday after Duke, based in Charlotte, N.C., gave the agency's confidential orders to the Times and the Observer.

The ISO analysis found that Duke's South Bay plant had accurate logs showing that the units followed the ISO's orders.

''It's regrettable that some people have inferred things that just weren't the case,'' said Duke spokesman Tom Williams.

However, the ISO findings may not clear Duke entirely of charges that it manipulated power supplies during three days in January when prices skyrocketed, said Gregg Fishman, an ISO spokesman.

State officials cautioned that further investigation is still needed to determine if Duke used other tactics to manipulate the power market.

Duke is one of several out-of-state generators that entered the California market after the state deregulated its power industry in 1998. It operates four plants and accounts for about 5 percent of the state's generating capacity.

The Federal Regulatory Commission last month found the company overcharged California by millions earlier this year when it was charging $3,880 a megawatt-hour for electricity. The commission found that Duke was entitled to only $273 per megawatt-hour. In one month, the average home in North and South Carolina uses one megawatt hour at a cost of $73.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2001

Answers

The commission found that Duke was entitled to only $273 per megawatt-hour. In one month, the average home in North and South Carolina uses one megawatt hour at a cost of $73.

Gawd, don't let them charge $273/megawatt hour in NC! My current bill (temp in low 90s) would be around $600/month--maybe more in August. Ouch! At least lots of the folks in CA have a cool breeze off the ocean in the evening or they have cool desert nights--no such thing here! Just hot alligator snot humidity.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2001

P.S. As for the average home using only one megawatt hour/mo in North and South Carolina, that cannot be true for most of us in the central part, where there is frequently no breeze to move the heavy, sodden air. I guess the numbers are reduced by lower use in our mountain and coastal areas.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2001