Do you agree that the three market participants he named were “bad eggs”?
Why or why not?
What kind of a question is that? How are "bad eggs" legally defined? Does FERC have an educated egg-dicator used to make this determination?
Those are the kind of questions FERC has been asking folks not involved in its investigation as it tries to scrounge up some witnesses against Kevin Gates and Powhatan Energy Fund. In November, FERC sent ten pages of questions (including the egg question, along with one about "bad apples") to a guy who talked to Kevin Gates about a job in the summer of 2010. Bryan Hansen, who bravely chose not to be represented by a lawyer after FERC pounced on him, didn't seem to have much dirt to spill after all.
But FERC hit paydirt with another guy who was looking for work in 2010 -- the guy with the opinion about the eggs and apples. In an email to Gates back in 2010, this guy worried that Alan Chen was going to "kill the goose that laid the golden egg," a badly-designed PJM market product that was profitable for everyone. I think this guy was just watching too much Willy Wonka.
In the wake of FERC's December 18 Show Cause Order, the accused had 30 days to respond. Gates, Chen and the companies requested a 30-day extension due to the holidays and new information that needed to be reviewed. OE opposed it. The Commission did what it often does... it split the baby and granted a 2-week extension. The response is now due on Groundhog Day. Auspicious!
FERC held a technical conference today about UTC transactions, where one of the panelists was from Twin Cities Power Holdings, LLC (any relation to the Twin Cities Power LLC that recently settled with FERC for $3.5M in a different market manipulation case?) It seems that FERC and PJM are still trying to figure out the markets they have designed to "benefit consumers." Maybe they should read the glossary at FERClitigation.com to figure some things out.
Meanwhile, it looks like Harry Reid's angry and sarcastic staffing services for federal energy commissions may be on the way out.
And new FERC Commissioner Collette Honorable, former chairwoman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, is on the way in. She's a breath of fresh air for this struggling federal commission.
Maybe she'll open her own twitter page, like Commissioner Moeller did last month. He's tweeted four times (once about the Powhatan mess), has followed no one, but already has 192 followers, which I'm sure includes every suck up energy lawyer in DC, but probably not Harry Reid. Isn't it nice to be so popular?
But FERC hit paydirt with another guy who was looking for work in 2010 -- the guy with the opinion about the eggs and apples. In an email to Gates back in 2010, this guy worried that Alan Chen was going to "kill the goose that laid the golden egg," a badly-designed PJM market product that was profitable for everyone. I think this guy was just watching too much Willy Wonka.
In the wake of FERC's December 18 Show Cause Order, the accused had 30 days to respond. Gates, Chen and the companies requested a 30-day extension due to the holidays and new information that needed to be reviewed. OE opposed it. The Commission did what it often does... it split the baby and granted a 2-week extension. The response is now due on Groundhog Day. Auspicious!
FERC held a technical conference today about UTC transactions, where one of the panelists was from Twin Cities Power Holdings, LLC (any relation to the Twin Cities Power LLC that recently settled with FERC for $3.5M in a different market manipulation case?) It seems that FERC and PJM are still trying to figure out the markets they have designed to "benefit consumers." Maybe they should read the glossary at FERClitigation.com to figure some things out.
Meanwhile, it looks like Harry Reid's angry and sarcastic staffing services for federal energy commissions may be on the way out.
And new FERC Commissioner Collette Honorable, former chairwoman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, is on the way in. She's a breath of fresh air for this struggling federal commission.
Maybe she'll open her own twitter page, like Commissioner Moeller did last month. He's tweeted four times (once about the Powhatan mess), has followed no one, but already has 192 followers, which I'm sure includes every suck up energy lawyer in DC, but probably not Harry Reid. Isn't it nice to be so popular?
RSS Feed