Sharing sensitive industry data, if it involved financial markets, would be considered insider trading and would be treated far differently, said Anjali Sheffrin, head of market analysis for the Independent System Operator, which manages the state's power grid. The Securities and Exchange Commission polices the nation's stock markets, but wholesale energy trading goes largely unwatched by federal regulators. San Diego attorney Mike Aguirre agreed with Sheffrin. Aguirre is part of a team of lawyers who have filed two lawsuits against leading power generators such as Dynegy, Duke Energy and Williams Energy Services. Energy companies dismiss these charges as speculation.
Energy companies say the way they use technology is all above board.
Tulsa-based Williams Co. Not everyone is persuaded that energy companies actually conspired to hike prices. Some public officials and energy industry players call the technology focus a red herring. California's energy problems are far more fundamental, they say, than click-happy energy traders with spreadsheets. The now-defunct California Power Exchange, for example, was something of a sitting duck, unable to freely shop around for the best electricity prices. Alarmed that such information could be used to game the market, the state's grid operator last October demanded that the trade group take the information off the site, which it did.