Judge advises denial of electricity rebates

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are weighing a judge’s recommendation to deny Northwest ratepayers refunds for the high electricity prices earlier this year.

Administrative Law Judge Carmen Cintron this week recommended that proceedings regarding refunds for the Northwest be terminated.

"The parties have failed to show that market-based prices charged in the (Pacific Northwest) during the potential refund period were unjust and unreasonable," the judge wrote in her decision Monday.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will now consider her findings.

FERC spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen said there is no time frame for the commission to decide whether to follow Cintron’s proposed findings. However, "they will try to act as quickly as possible. There is a huge record, and it’s a complex case."

Cintron specifically looked at prices from Dec. 25 through June 20. She found the increases were the result of many factors — supply shortages, excess demand, drought, increased prices in natural gas and price signals from California.

At that time, a power crunch, caused in part by a botched deregulation effort in California, drove prices up in the West.

Six parties were seeking $462 million in refunds.

Cintron said the transactions resulted from agreements between parties, and under those circumstances, the prices were not unfair.

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Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: www.ferc.gov