By Katherine Pfleger
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators will give the Northwest another chance to make a case that it deserves refunds for electricity overcharges during the West’s energy crunch.
In an order announced Wednesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said that seven Western states will enter a fact-finding process to determine if wholesale power providers overcharged utilities and consumers.
The five-member commission ordered an administrative law judge to conduct a preliminary hearing and report by the middle of September.
The move separated the states from California, which dominated previous settlement talks over refunds from power generators. Instead, the hearing will include parties from Washington, Oregon and Idaho, as well as parts of Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.
"Treating the Northwest differently is an opportunity and not a reflection of its lack of importance," FERC commissioner Nora Brownell said. "The pain has been equally felt."
The order came as good news to some in the Northwest who have contended for months that consumers and utilities have been overcharged.
"We have been arguing for our day in court," said Chris Jarvis, spokesman for Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire. "This is what we were hoping the commission would do — give us a formal opportunity to make our case for refunds."
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was initially concerned about separating the region from California because she worried that could ease the pressure to get refunds. However, she considers the commissioners’ order as a positive step that should allow the full consideration of the Northwest’s unique energy market.
"The point is that now legal documentation of the evidence will be made," Cantwell said. "It doesn’t guarantee that we are going to have refunds … but they will be considered."
Separately, FERC said Wednesday that California was overcharged, though the commissioners declined to say by how much. They ordered a fact-finding hearing, to be completed within 60 days, to determine the size of the refunds from providers of wholesale power.
During the previous settlement talks, California claimed generators overcharged by $8.9 billion, but power wholesalers offered to refund slightly more than $700 million.
At the time, five Northwest utilities and the Bonneville Power Administration said they were owed collectively more than $600 million as a result of overcharges.
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