PROJECTS

California Power Market FERC Refund Proceedings, USA

The problem

A poorly designed power market, and manipulation by power marketers, led to power cuts and severe price spikes in California in 2000-2001. The United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered power marketers to refund the manipulated market prices to power purchasers, including PG&E. Power marketers disputed many of the refunds, arguing that prices charged were reasonable in light of transmission congestion and prices in the market for emissions permits.

How we helped

Castalia assessed the situation to determine which price spikes were a result of market manipulation. We provided expert testimony on the contested charges to show that most charges were a result of market manipulation. To determine this, we examined the disputed charges and developed a counterfactual market model of the fair market price without manipulation. We also simulated the emissions trading market for nitrous oxide and sulfurous oxide to incorporate the market price for these pollutants in the fair market price.

Impact

As a result of our testimony, PG&E prevailed in almost all of its refund claims.

The client

PG&E

Our team

Alex Sundakov

Alex Sundakov

Executive Director
David Ehrhardt

David Ehrhardt

Chief Executive

How can we help you?

How can we help you?