Perkins Coie Scores Big Win for Power Marketers Before FERC

Perkins Coie lawyers Carol Smoots, Glenn Benson, and Nidhi Thakar scored a major victory on May 6 in a complex and hard-fought case before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) involving whether entities engaged solely in financial trading of electric energy should be made responsible for costs associated with ensuring there is an adequate supply of power on the electric grid in the Midwest at all times. In a prior decision issued on November 10, 2008, FERC had made financial traders subject to $131 million of these costs retroactive to August 10, 2007, setting off a chain of defaults and companies being driven out of the market. When FERC delayed acting on rehearing and failed to take action on an Emergency Motion for Stay that the Perkins Coie Team filed with FERC, the Perkins Coie Team took the unusual step of filing an Emergency Petition for Writ of Mandamus and Motion for Stay with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to force FERC's hand. The evening before FERC was to have filed its response with the Court, FERC issued an order reversing its prior decision and ordering that the $131 million be repaid to the financial traders.