Bob Filner: “Evidence continues to mount that California and the west coast electricity market has been illegally manipulated, and…”

“Evidence continues to mount that California and the west coast electricity market has been illegally manipulated, and consumers are entitled to billions of dollars for illegal overcharges since last summer. Last week in sworn testimony to the State senate, three employees of the Duke energy plant in my district in Chula Vista, California, testified that they took the plant out of production for economic reasons. That is to boost the price of electricity at times, including the worst emergencies that were declared in California. At stage 3 alerts, the generators were taken down. They were told to throw away spare parts, so it would take longer to correct any problems that did appear. The manipulation of the market is clear. The illegal manipulation of the market is clear. Mr. Speaker, all my colleagues should sign the discharge petition at the well this morning to make sure that we get a vote on restoring equanimity to the electrical markets of California, and consumers get refunds for illegal prices.”