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Professor Fellmeth: $1.6 Billion Owed to California Consumers Is "Long Overdue"

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Professor Robert FellmethSAN DIEGO (February 19, 2013)—Today, University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Price Professor of Public Interest Law Robert Fellmeth was quoted in the San Diego Union-Tribune, providing expert legal commentary about a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission administrative law judge's ruling that California utility customers are owed about $1.6 billion from energy wholesalers that manipulated markets at the outset of the state's 2000-2001 energy crisis.

From today's story: The findings of an administrative law judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, won praise from state utilities officials Tuesday. The judge sided with the state and three investor-owned utilities in finding that more than a dozen electricity wholesalers artificially drove up energy prices, leading to supply shortages that caused rolling blackouts and forcing billions in overpayments.

If the damages are eventually paid, the refunds and interest would offset customers' future electric bills.

"The San Diego and California consumers are long overdue this rebate," said Robert Fellmeth, a professor of public interest law at the University of San Diego Law School who has written extensively on the state's energy crisis. "This is a lot of money. ... It's restitution."

Read the entire San Diego Union-Tribune article online.

ContactAshley Vitale | ashleyvitale@sandiego.edu | (619) 260-4097