The winter isn’t over, at least not for the regulators. Price manipulation was charged during the winter from wholesale generators that bid to supply market power.

winter into spring

The claim is that the power producers withheld some generation (saying it was unavailable due to maintenance) thereby decreasing the supply during some peak demand.

Even though it was record breaking cold, the electric pricing mechanisms were deemed to have worked by the Federal Energy Regulators (FERC). However, that is at the Federal level and the claim is within the regional wholesale pricing.

It’s good to know that oversight is there, not sure if this will cause more transparency in pricing, but at least the cold weather is over.

Realgy has recovered all costs related to this winter’s unprecedented cold. Most utilities are collecting their costs over the next 6-12 months.

Read the full RTO Insider article, “Monitor Suggests Price Gouging by Generators”