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A federal regulator says Enron made false power orders

Enron Corp used its Portland General Electric utility in Oregon to make bogus orders for power in California that helped run up costs for consumers and violated market rules, a federal regulator concluded.

Enron and Portland General traders misled the operator of California's electricity market and rival companies into believing power lines would be overloaded so that Enron would be paid for relieving the congestion, according to a staff report filed last week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The report cites transactions in April and June 2000, before power prices in California surged tenfold and the state's largest utilities became insolvent buying power. The commission has been investigating allegations of market manipulation by Enron after the now-bankrupt energy trader disclosed some of its methods.

"Traders described the trades as `goofy' and `screwy,' while transmission schedulers used terms such as `bogus' and `bizarre,'" the FERC report said, citing telephone transcripts.

Portland General reported only a third of its 1,979 transactions with Enron's trading unit from 1999 to 2001, a violation of an agreement with the commission that allowed it to sell electricity at market rates, the reports said.

Portland General referred to the report in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.

The utility "does not contest" that technical violations occurred when it failed to make transactions with Enron Power Marketing Inc public, the filing said. The utility "disagrees" with the staff's conclusions that the transactions hurt markets and were improper, the filing said.
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