Lawsuit Filed In San Diego Vs Enron For Power Mkt Abuses

11/29/2000
Dow Jones Energy Service
(Copyright (c) 2000, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

LOS ANGELES -(Dow Jones)- A second lawsuit is being filed in San Diego 
Superior Court Wednesday against Enron alleging the company, and others, 
overcharged California consumers more than $4 billion for electricity 
service. 
On Monday, a similar suit was filed against Dynegy Inc. (DYN), Reliant Energy 
Inc. (REI), Duke Energy North America (DUK), Southern Energy Company (SO), 
AES Corp., Williams Energy and NRG Energy. Both lawsuits are seeking class 
action status and may be consolidated into one complaint. 
The complaints allege unfair trade practices and illegal trust activity. A 
news conference announcing the details of the lawsuit will be held Wednesday 
morning in San Diego.
Enron does not own or operate major generating units in the state, but is 
active in trading electricity here and securing long-term fixed rate 
contracts for large industrial customers. At times, Enron sells power back 
into the California Power Exchange, the market where power is bought and sold 
in the state. 
An Enron representative said he has not yet seen the lawsuit and was unable 
to comment. 
The lawsuits claim Enron and the other energy companies withheld power supply 
last summer, created shortages by selling power out of state and used 
real-time confidential data about power plant activity to drive up prices. 
The lawsuits are an attempt to force generators to refund about $4 billion 
for electricity, the amount consumers were allegedly overcharged. -By Jason 
Leopold; Dow Jones Newswires; 323-658-3874;
jason.leopold@dowjones.com


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