[Mavdog]

Originally posted by: LRB
What in the hell are you trying to say mavdog. You rambled all over the place and only seemed to contradict yourself in saying that the texas state administrators had nothing to do with the manipulation as you had earlier claimed.

They are two different issues. There's the price manipulation in the west (thanks to Enron) and there's the issues here in Texas that are seperate (we aren't in the grid sending power across state lines).

To see what Enron was able to do outside of Texas in the western US, look at FERC.

To see what Texas producers have done, look at ERCOT.

I thought you said you "know..about the situation"?

Here's a tidbit about ERCOT:

"ERCOT Scandal Just One of Five Utility Issues Sunset Commission Needs to Consider, Consumer Groups Say

Commission to Hear Testimony Tuesday on Effectiveness
Of Public Utility Commission and the Office of Public Utility Counsel

AUSTIN – Texas consumer advocacy groups say the ongoing Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) scandal should not shift attention from other critical consumer issues when the Sunset Advisory Commission begins its review of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) tomorrow.

The consumer groups identified additional reforms needed to protect the state's nine million customers from abuses by electric utilities.

"The Sunset Commission needs to act now to protect residential and other small consumers in the electric market,” said Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas Office "We've seen a dramatic increase in electric bills. And key price protections in both electric and telephone service are set to expire next year. Consumers also ought to be concerned about a perilous proposal to abolish the Office of Public Utility Counsel and other rollbacks of consumer protections.”

Rate Protections Need Consideration

Since deregulation began two and a half years ago, the average monthly electric bill for residential electric customers who have not switched providers has increased 22 to 34 percent, depending on where customers live, said Tim Morstad of Consumers Union's Southwest Office. Eighty-five percent of residential customers in areas open to competition are paying these higher rates.

and then there's the infamous Enron debacle and FERC's assistance to Enron:

The bigger issue, however, has to do with a ruling handed down by FERC on Nov. 1, 2000, related to the sky-high wholesale power prices that wreaked havoc in much of the state between May and October of that year. Then Gov. Gray Davis, along with dozens of other state officials, charged that energy companies conspired to drive up electricity prices in the state by using a variety of schemes to game the market. The November 2000 investigation by FERC was the first probe into California's power crisis. The commission conducted a second investigation in mid-2001.

During the 2000 investigation, the Republican dominated FERC investigated the issue of high electricity prices and said the wholesale market structure in California is "seriously flawed" but FERC found no significant evidence that power sellers or providers manipulated prices. Instead, the report blamed the state's mandated market structure for the summer's power shortages and rising prices.

We have found that Enron did manipulate prices. repeatedly.