Energy suit denied by SCOTUS

Californians hoping to get some of the money the state alleges was "over-billed" will be disappointed by yesterday's Supreme Court decision:

In a setback for California officials pursuing claims over the energy crisis, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday tossed out a state lawsuit alleging big power companies double-billed California by more than $100 million.

The court declined to hear California's appeal of a ruling last summer. In that ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said California's claim should be heard by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, not the courts.

The case involves one of the smaller claims spilling out of the energy crisis, the era in which costs skyrocketed and blackouts occurred as a result of the state's disastrous deregulation plan. All told, the state said it was overcharged by about $9 billion by wholesale energy merchants; it has collected refunds totaling about half that amount and is continuing to seek refunds for the rest.

Monday's decision involved a series of lawsuits California filed in late 2002 against wholesale power generators such as Mirant Corp., Dynegy Inc., Reliant Energy Inc. and others.