SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Electricity wholesalers have overcharged California $6.2 billion since May by manipulating the energy market, power grid managers said Thursday.
The Independent System Operator will file the findings with federal regulators and ask for a refund, ISO spokesman Patrick Dorinson said.
The state auditor also said the state's 1996 deregulation law encouraged both buyers and sellers of electricity to "manipulate wholesale prices to their advantage" by underestimating supply and demand.
The auditor's report lays out what it calls "a complex combination" of deficiencies and misjudgments it says led to the state's power problems.
According to the ISO report, five in-state power suppliers and 16 importers frequently offered electricity at prices higher than it cost them to produce effectively withholding supplies or didn't bid at all when they were able to generate power. ISO Director of Market Analysis Anjali Sheffrin presented the findings at a conference in Berkeley last week.
The companies have denied overcharging California and have said they expect the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will determine their prices were justified.
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