FERC Issues Staff Notice of Violation Against Power Trader

FERC issued a Staff notice alleging that, "a formal, nonpublic investigation pursuant to 18 C.F.R. Part 1b, the staff of the Office of Enforcement of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) has preliminarily determined that Twin Cities Power-Canada, U.L.C. and certain affiliated companies, including Twin Cities Energy, L.L.C. and Twin Cities Power, LLC, and individuals Allan Cho, Jason F. Vaccaro, and Gaurav Sharma (collectively, the subjects) each violated the Commission’s Prohibition of Electric Energy Market Manipulation, 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2 (2013)."

The preliminary Staff determination cited in the Staff notice is not a finding of wrongdoing by the Commission.

According to the notice, " Staff alleges that the subjects violated 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2 (2013) by scheduling and trading physical power in Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) to benefit related swap positions that settle off of real-time MISO prices, including the Cinergy Hub Balance-of-Day Swap traded on IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (ICE), during the period January 1, 2010 through January 31, 2011."