New Yorkers were ripped off when energy traders took advantage of poor management of the state’s electric grid last year — but consumers can’t have their millions back, probers announced yesterday.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled that nobody broke the law when consumers were overcharged by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Estimates of the traders’ take range from $240 million to $415 million or more — between $13 and $21 for every resident of the state.
FERC was reluctant to blame the New York Independent System Operator, a nonprofit that manages the flow of power and oversees the system from which Con Ed and other utilities buy electricity.
“It is disappointing that FERC’s ruling confirmed the exploitation of this loophole by greedy energy traders but did not help New Yorkers who got taken advantage of,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).