January 12, 2022 - However, by the spring of 2000, supply problems began to appear, leading to sharp rises in the cost of wholesale electricity.Footnote 2 These problems would escalate dramatically over the following year, resulting in rolling blackouts across ...

July 15, 2017 - The most damning revelations concern Enron's secret role in creating artificial power shortages in California, helping to trigger an energy crisis in 2000 and 2001 which cost residents billions of dollars in surcharges.

November 1, 2025 - This caused an 800% increase in wholesale prices from April 2000 to December 2000. In addition, rolling blackouts adversely affected many businesses dependent upon a reliable supply of electricity, and inconvenienced many retail consumers. California had an installed generating capacity of 45 GW (gigawatts, or billions-of-watts). At the time of the blackouts, demand was 28 GW. A demand-supply gap was created by energy companies, mainly Enron, to create artificial shortages.

August 27, 2015 - These recordings provide powerful evidence of the market misconduct that inflicted so much harm on California businesses and consumers in the early 2000s. Hear for yourself how Enron traders and their partners bragged and laughed about stealing money from "Grandma Millie" and California.

April 5, 2025 - After that call, he promptly returned to head up its initial probe into California’s skyrocketing power prices in 2000. He was certain it stemmed from the recent deregulation of California’s power markets — a push influenced by the Houston-based energy giant Enron.

2 weeks ago - Republican Senator Phil Gramm, husband of Enron Board member Wendy Gramm and also the second-largest recipient of campaign contributions from Enron, succeeded in legislating California's energy commodity trading deregulation. Despite warnings from prominent consumer groups which stated that this law would give energy traders too much influence over energy commodity prices, the legislation was passed in December 2000.

In a hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on April 11, California Public Utilities Commission President Loretta Lynch and California Power Authority Chairman S. David Freeman charged that Enron Corporation’s manipulation of the energy market was at the root of California’s energy crisis last year. According to authorities, by late 2000 Enron oversaw 30 percent of energy bought and sold in the state’s deregulated market, giving it enormous leverage over supply and pricing.

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In a hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on April 11, California Public Utilities Commission President Loretta Lynch and California Power Authority Chairman S. David Freeman charged that Enron Corporation’s manipulation of the energy market was at the root of California’s energy crisis last year. According to authorities, by late 2000 Enron oversaw 30 percent of energy bought and sold in the state’s deregulated market, giving it enormous leverage over supply and pricing.

April 5, 2025 - But one part of the Enron story that we’re still seeing echoes of today is the company’s involvement in the 2000-2001 California electricity crisis, where energy companies manipulated markets and prompted large-scale blackouts after lobbying the state to deregulate energy markets.

July 29, 2024 - Momentum froze in 2000, when California’s attempt at restructuring induced the Western Energy Crisis. The behavior of Enron, including market manipulation, took center stage. Among other things, Enron engineered an artificial supply shortage to inflate prices.

April 21, 2022 - What emerged from the investigation was a mosaic of inter-related schemes—some hardly more than smoke and mirrors—that toppled a company that once boasted annual revenues over $150 billion. Enron ripped off California, selling energy to the state’s strapped utilities at over-inflated rates.

June 22, 2012 - (SACRAMENTO) – Attorney General Bill Lockyer today announced a $1.52 billion settlement with Enron to resolve market manipulation and price gouging claims against the architect of gaming strategies that powered the plundering of California ...

Policies that eliminated oversight ... In California, for example, the company engineered more than thirty-five rolling blackouts that interrupted or withheld power in the state....

August 20, 2021 - The memorandums were written in December 2000 by lawyers at Enron to another lawyer at the company and also describe “dummied-up” power-delivery schedules, submitting “false information” to the state, and “effectively increasing the costs to all market participants” by “knowingly increasing the congestion costs.” · The memos provide the first inside look at the trading strategies Enron used in California...

The question here, however, is whether or not ENRON and other electricity supply and · trading firms manipulated California’s bad designed electricity market in the 2000-1 period. The · answer is “Yes,” “No,” and “Maybe.” There are two reasons for this.

When prices dropped last summer, Enron's profits from California turned to losses, said John Rozsa, an expert on deregulation who is an aide to State Senator Steve Peace of San Diego, a Democrat. Though the company had many other problems, those losses were "the straw that broke the camel's back," Mr. Rozsa said. "They made a bet in 2000, which they won.

And Californians still have not gotten the $9 billion in refunds they deserve, which were overcharges as a result of Enron and other companies' manipulation of the energy markets. These tapes provide concrete evidence that there was intentional manipulation and fraud perpetrated by energy companies during the 2000-2001 energy crisis in California.

As wholesale prices grew and retail prices remained the same, the financial disparity surrounding the energy crisis in California deepened. The imbalance between wholesale and retail energy prices led many power companies to become financially unstable. In an effort to offset their losses, some of these companies attempted to manipulate the market by staging intentional blackouts at critical times to increase their profits. Using this tactic, energy traders, such as Enron Corporation, were able to take advantage of the situation and sell power at significantly higher than normal prices for enormous profit.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been a critical player in disclosing the role Enron and other energy · providers played in exploiting and exacerbating the energy crisis in California and other Western states in 2000 and