-Caveat Lector- http://cbsnews.cbs.com/now/story/0,1597,297834-412,00.shtml Market Manipulation? Former Power Plant Employees: Company Manipulated Power Supply Ind. System Operator Accused Power Co. Of Withholding Power Former Employees Scheduled To Testify Before The State SAN DIEGO, June 21, 2001 (CBS) After deregulation, Duke Energy bought four California power plants. The company appears to hold the record for the highest price ever charged for electricity — almost $3,900 a megawatt. Before the energy crisis the average price was only $30, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales. In an exclusive interview, workers from Duke's South Bay Power Plant tell CBS News how they think Duke may have pushed up prices. "Their exact quote was they're making more money than they ever thought possible," recalled Glenn Jonson. Johnson, who was a mechanic at the South Bay plant for more than 20 years, supports what state investigators say happened across California — units were shut down unnecessarily in order to shrink the supply of electricity. "I felt I was directed at pieces of equipment that didn't need to be taken down at that particular period of time," said Johnson. Johnson also claims Duke ordered maintenance shutdowns even though he didn't have the needed parts. "Looking back at it, it would tell me they wanted the load limited," said Johnson. Asked if that meant less power would be coming out of the plant and higher prices, Johnson replied, "Correct." Ed Edwards knows why they had to wait for spare parts. A supervisor ordered him to get rid of them. "I explained to him, 'Man, that's good stuff. These are parts we can use.' And so I took a forklift and I disposed of some 23 palettes of good inventory," said Edwards. And after 22 years at the plant, he couldn't understand Duke's decision to constantly run the most expensive turbine that produced the least power. "I cant tell you (why Duke would do that). My opinion would be it had something to do with economics," said Edwards. Jimmey Olkjer is no economist, but he was an assistant control room operator at the plant. "Why do you think they ran it so much? It cost more to run so you can charge more for each megawatt," said Olkjer. Control room logs obtained by CBS News show Duke Energy Trading and Marketing (DETM) ordered power levels to quickly rise and fall — something Olkjer says never occurred before deregulation at Duke. "Well, that means to me they were manipulating the market," said Olkjer. "We stand behind our maintenance practices and have done a good job keeping the power flowing," said Duke spokesman Tom Williams. Williams says the expensive turbine met demand and environmental requirements. And as for the logs, Duke says every change in power level was ordered by the state. "The state ordered us to do make those changes," he said. The ISO or Independent System Operator, which has already accused Duke of withholding power 80 percent of the time last year, is checking its own logs and may have some answers Friday, when the plant workers are scheduled to testify before a state committee on price-fixing. "This needs to be exposed. When I look at my bill every month, having the knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes, I think it's a crime that everybody's paying the amount of money that they are," said Edwards. "It just seems to be morally wrong. There is a thing about making a fair profit and there is nothing fair about this," said Johnson. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
