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Enron Mail |
US Court Denies Enron, MAPP Utils Appeals Against FERC Jun. 20, 2001 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- A United States Appeals Court has rejected bids from several central U.S. utilities and power marketer Enron Corp. (ENE) to change a series of refunds previously ordered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC ordered in 1999 that several transmission-owning utilities in the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool transmission grid region had to refund some extra transmission fees that were collected between spring 1997 and spring 1999. In total, MAPP calculates those refunds at about $26 million. Many MAPP companies, including Alliant Energy Corp. (LNT) and Nebraska Public Power District, argued to the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. that FERC's order violated rules against retroactive rulemaking. Enron, which benefited from the refunds, argued in a separate appeal that it should be paid additional compensation. In an opinion filed Tuesday by Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, FERC's original rulings were backed and both appeals were rejected. "We were disappointed by the decision," said Dan Presser, spokesman for Alliant, which refunded $3.3 million in 1999. "Our argument was that we should have had our refund refunded. We're still reviewing what our next step is."
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