A Bookkeeping Error Adds to Heating Bills Statewide

[sleipnir]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/nyregion/20gas.html?

By IAN URBINA NYT


It all started around noon on Nov. 24 when a federal agency known as the Energy Information Administration issued its weekly report on natural gas inventories. The report indicated erroneously that there would be one-third as much gas put into storage that week as the industry expected, sending energy traders on a buying frenzy.

"It was a complete panic," said Saul Horowitz, chief executive officer of Econnergy, a company based in Spring Valley, about 20 miles north of Manhattan. "The price for natural gas went from $6.30 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas to $8.05 in less than hour." The error led Econnergy to pay more than $6 million extra for its gas, a charge that is being passed to its 160,000 customers.

Part of the mistake was caused by Dominion Transmission Inc., an interstate gas transmission company based in Clarksburg, W.Va., which submitted incorrect numbers to federal regulators. But even though company officials notified federal regulators of the mistake later the same day, the Energy Information Administration, an agency within the Department of Energy, did not publicly correct the mistake until it printed its next report, a week later.

Last May, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission adopted new rules against market manipulation that required utilities to give back profits earned as a result of data that was intentionally misconstrued. But against the arguments of consumer advocacy groups, federal regulators decided not to require utilities to return profits based on data that was unintentionally misconstrued.



Welcome to Enron, Part 2.

And it looks like they're going to get away with this one as well, by claiming it was just "a simple mistake."

[truthisfreedom]

1. i see. so, officially, duping the unsuspecting public isn't really duping

when you use the taxpayer-suppored federal government to do your dirty work for you.

prison time. posthaste.