Friday, May 11, 2001

Power plant company pays $8 million settlement in California

The company that wants to build a massive power plant near Fairburn was recently in the cross hairs in the California energy crisis.

According to Reuters, late last month, Williams Companies Inc. agreed to pay $8 million to settle accusations that it withheld electricity produced at two southern California generating plants from the California Independent System Operator.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission enforcement decision was part of the investigation into the activities of California power generators, which have made huge profits because of soaring wholesale electricity prices during the past year.

FERC staff recently raised "serious questions" about whether Williams unfairly withheld power last year from April 25 through May 5.

Williams, a wholesale seller of electric power in California, marketed power produced by two AES Southland Inc. generation plants in southern California.

The plants were shut down for what the owners said were necessary repairs, forcing the California ISO to buy power from other Williams units at about $750 per megawatt hour, instead of the contracted $63 per megawatt hour.

FERC said Williams received about $10.85 million in extra revenue because of the unavailability of the two power units.

Under the settlement, Williams will pay $8 million to the California ISO, which had accused the plants of unfairly withholding power at a time when all supplies were badly needed. The California ISO is a nonprofit group that manages the state's transmission grid to keep power flowing.

Neither Williams nor AES Southland admitted wrongdoing in the settlement.

The company recently announced plans to build a 1,230-megawatt energy supply facility in South Fulton, off Peters Road between Ga. highways 138 and 92, using 30 acres of a 250-acre site.

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