Judge says refunds of up to $1-bil for California possible

US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chief Administrative Law Judge Curtis Wagner said Monday afternoon that he sees "hundreds of millions, maybe a billion dollars" in refunds for California from power sellers in the West. As the FERC-ordered settlement talks ended without an agreement on refunds to California from generators for power sold to the state over the last several months, Wagner said he was not convinced that the state is due $8.9-bil in refunds as it has argued throughout the two-week long discussions. But, at the same time, "nobody denies there [have been] overcharges," Wagner said. Wagner said that his recommendation to the full commission on possible refunds is based on the proposals that he received from generators during the confidential negotiations.
Wagner said that throughout the talks he received a total of $716.1-mil in settlement proposals from wholesale generators. He said that in order to expedite his refund recommendation, FERC should hold a hearing in front of a different ALJ to establish an exact refund amount. Wagner also clarified that in his recommendation for refunds for California, he would urge the commission to set up a separate refund conference for Northwest power buyers and sellers.

platts.com