Suit Says Energy Officials Aided Enron Schemes

[UpInArms]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3205-2004Mar17.html

A Nevada utility yesterday sued officials at a state water and power commission for allegedly helping Enron Corp. manipulate the Western energy market in 2000 and 2001, leading to record price hikes and widespread blackouts in California.

Nevada Power Co. claims that executives at the Colorado River Commission, which provides power to customers in southern Nevada, colluded with Enron traders to produce more than $10 million for Enron and the CRC at the expense of Nevada ratepayers. The utility was obliged to ensure that supply and demand matched on the power grid and thus was hurt financially when it moved to correct energy imbalances of the sort CRC allegedly employed, the lawsuit said.

The schemes, some of which involved buying cheap electricity in California and dumping it in Nevada at higher prices, brought unspecified profits to the commission and fed into a "desire to put the screws to" Nevada Power by some CRC executives, the lawsuit said. The suit does not explain the motive for that ill will.

<snip>

"Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money, mo' money," said one CRC official to a colleague while looking at power schedules that had been tampered with, according to excerpts.

...more...

[daleo]

1. Government corruption in the U.S. energy business?

Perhaps William Saffire can bring his investigative talents to bear on this (and other U.S. energy/government corruption), as well as his laudable concerns about the U.N. Oil for Food program.