Private FERC Call Under Scrutiny

WASHINGTON —  Two members of Congress on Tuesday asked the Energy Department to determine whether members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission improperly divulged information about an upcoming vote on California’s long-term energy contracts during a conference call with financial analysts.

“In the wake of the Western energy crisis, the Enron scandal, and revelations concerning improper practices by some of the nation’s leading energy companies, it is critical to reestablish investor and consumer confidence in our energy markets,” Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) declared in a letter to the Energy Department’s inspector general.

FERC spokesman Kevin Cadden said the conference call was appropriate and revealed nothing that had not already been said at a public meeting the same day.

In the public meeting, two of the three FERC commissioners indicated they probably would oppose California’s quest to nullify the long-term contracts signed during the peak of the state’s energy crisis.

In the private conference call later, FERC Chairman Patrick Wood III and Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell made it clear that they intended to reject California’s request, according to a Dow Jones news service account, which cited unnamed sources.

Under agency rules, officials are not at liberty to reveal their future votes in the course of private discussions.

One analyst who attended the meeting told The Times that Brownell essentially reiterated her public comments.

“What she said had such astounding similarity to what she said in the open meeting, that I didn’t bother to take notes,” said Christine Tezak, an energy analyst with the Washington Research Group.

California is seeking to nullify billions of dollars in long-term contracts in a bid to renegotiate more favorable terms. The California Public Utilities Commission also has filed a complaint about the call with FERC.

The Public Utilities Commission, citing FERC’s own rules, said the remedy for improper, off-the-record communication was to make the material publicly available. FERC officials were preparing to make details about the call public Tuesday, although no transcript was available.