All Civil Penalty Actions – 2013

To access the significant orders and federal district court papers related to all matters that have proceeded to Orders to Show Cause, see the Orders to Show Cause Proceedings page.

Subject(s) of Investigation and Order	Sanctions, including Civil Penalties, Disgorgement, and Compliance Measures	Description of Findings of Violations
Constellation Energy Commodities Group, Inc., 145 FERC ¶ 61,062 (Oct. 18, 2013)	$500,000 Civil Penalty; $145,928 Disgorgement; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving admitted violation of 18 C.F.R. § 35.41(b), and related CAISO tariff provision, for falsely designating transactions to improperly ensure awards of bids at multiple interties.
Richard Silkman, Docket No. IN12-13-000, Order Assessing Penalties, 144 FERC ¶ 61,164 (August 29, 2013) Prior Commission Activity: Order to Show Cause and Notice of Proposed Penalty, 140 FERC ¶ 61,033 (July 17, 2012)	$1,250,000 Civil Penalty.	The Commission issued an Order Assessing Civil Penalty finding a violation of the Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. 1c.2, for fraudulently inflating baseline energy consumption in the New England ISO market in order to later claim greater energy curtailments, and payments, in the Day-Ahead Load Response Program (demand response). Silkman elected the procedures of FPA section 31(d)(3), in which the Commission will institute an action in federal district court if the penalty is not paid within 60 days of the date of the Order.
Competitive Energy Services, LLC, Docket No. IN12-12-000, Order Assessing Penalties, 144 FERC ¶ 61,163 (August 29, 2013) Prior Commission Activity: Order to Show Cause and Notice of Proposed Penalty, 140 FERC ¶ 61,032 (July 17, 2012)	$7,500,000 Civil Penalty; $166,841.13 Disgorgement.	The Commission issued an Order Assessing Civil Penalty finding a violation of the Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. 1c.2, for fraudulently inflating baseline energy consumption in the New England ISO market in order to later claim greater energy curtailments, and payments, in the Day-Ahead Load Response Program (demand response). CES elected the procedures of FPA section 31(d)(3), in which the Commission will institute an action in federal district court if the penalty is not paid within 60 days of the date of the Order.
Lincoln Paper and Tissue, LLC, Docket No. IN12-10-000, Order Assessing Civil Penalties, 144 FERC ¶ 61,162 (August 29, 2013) Prior Commission Activity: Order to Show Cause, 140 FERC ¶ 61,031 (July 17, 2012)	Disgorgement and civil penalties as follows, respectively: $379,016.03, in disgorgement. $5,000,000 in civil penalties.	The Commission issued an Order Assessing Civil Penalty finding a violation of the Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. 1c.2, for fraudulently inflating baseline energy consumption in the New England ISO market in order to later claim greater energy curtailments, and payments, in the Day-Ahead Load Response Program (demand response). Lincoln elected the procedures of FPA section 31(d)(3), in which the Commission will institute an action in federal district court if the penalty is not paid within 60 days of the date of the Order.
Enterprise Texas Pipeline LLC, 144 FERC ¶ 61,156 (Aug. 26, 2013)	$315,000 Civil Penalty; $7,234,539.62 Disgorgement; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under NGPA section 311 and 18 C.F.R. § 284.123 that Enterprise failed to obtain Commission authorization for a fee it charged to its users.
BP America Inc., BP Corporation North America Inc., BP America Production Company, BP Energy Company, Docket No. IN13-15-000, Order to Show Cause and Notice of Proposed Penalty, 144 FERC ¶ 61,100 (Aug. 5, 2013)	Civil Penalty in the amount of $28,000,000 against BP America Inc., BP Corporation North America Inc., BP America Production Company, BP Energy Company (BP); disgorgement in the amount of $800,000 plus interest by BP.	The Commission issued an Order to Show Cause why the company should not be found to have violated the Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. 1c.1, for sales of natural gas at specific natural gas trading hubs to affect the index price at which related financial instruments settled.
In re Make-Whole Payments and Related Bidding Strategies (JP Morgan Ventures Energy Corporation), 144 FERC ¶ 61,068 (July 30, 2013)	$285,000,000 Civil Penalty; $125,000,000 Disgorgement; Waiver of Claims (for additional market payments and in related litigation); Compliance Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under its Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2, and also under MISO tariff 39.2.5.c, for multiple strategies in the CAISO and MISO markets intended to obtain above-market payments through fraudulent bidding practices.
Barclays Bank PLC, Daniel Brin, Scott Connelly, Karen Levine, and Ryan Smith, 144 FERC ¶ 61,041 (July 16, 2013) Prior Commission Activity: Order to Show Cause and Notification of Proposed Penalty, 141 FERC ¶ 61,084 (October 31, 2012)	$435,000,000 Civil Penalty, Barclays; $34,900,000 Disgorgement, Barclays; $15,000,000 Civil Penalty, trader Scott Connelly; $1,000,000 Civil Penalty each, traders Daniel Brin, Karen Levine, and Ryan Smith.	The Commission issued an Order Assessing Civil Penalties finding a violation of the Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2, for trading electricity in the western United States to affect the index price at which related financial instruments settled. Barclays and the individual traders elected the procedures of FPA section 31(d)(3), in which the Commission assesses a penalty and, if the penalty is not paid, then institutes an action in federal district court to review the assessment.
Southwest Power Pool, Inc., 144 FERC ¶ 61,019 (July 10, 2013)	$50,000 Civil Penalty; Mitigation Measures; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under the Reliability Standards for failing to coordinate with neighboring Reliability Coordinators during a control center outage and failing to report the outage to NERC after the event.
Enerwise Global Technologies, Inc., 143 FERC ¶ 61,218 (June 7, 2013)	$780,000 Civil Penalty; $20,726 Disgorgement; Operational Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2 for fraudulently inflating baseline energy consumption of demand response provider in the PJM market in order to claim greater energy curtailments and payments.
DTE Gas Company; and Washington 10 Storage Corporation, 143 FERC ¶ 61,188 (May 31, 2013)	$15,000 Civil Penalty, DTE; $725,000 Civil Penalty, Washington 10; $2,508,227 Disgorgement, Washington 10; Compliance Enhancements, Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving admitted violations under 18 C.F.R. Part 284 for releases of short-term, discounted capacity without posting and bidding; and under Part 284, NGPA section 311, and Washington 10’s Statement of Operating Conditions for charging unauthorized rates to certain customers and failing to satisfy certain Commission reporting requirements.
Seneca Falls Power Corporation, 143 FERC ¶ 61,063 (Apr. 23, 2013)	$150,000 Civil Penalty; Operational Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings of failure to meet hydropower license requirements concerning lake water levels; operations in conjunction with relevant state authorities; and construction of fish passages.
Entergy Services, Inc., 142 FERC ¶ 61,241 (Mar. 28, 2013)	$975,000 Civil Penalty; Mitigation Measures; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under 27 Requirements of 15 Reliability Standards concerning protection system maintenance; facility ratings; system modeling; operator qualification; and communication systems.
Rumford Paper Company, 142 FERC ¶ 61,218 (Mar. 22, 2013)	$10,000,000 Civil Penalty; $2,836,419.08 Disgorgement; Compliance Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission issued an Order to Show Cause why the company should not be found to have violated the Commission’s Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2, for fraudulently inflating baseline energy consumption in the New England ISO market in order to later claim greater energy curtailments, and payments, in the Day-Ahead Load Response Program (demand response). The Commission subsequently approved a settlement resolving the matter.
In re PJM Up-To Congestion Transactions, 142 FERC ¶ 61,088 (Feb. 1 , 2013)	$51,000 Civil Penalty; $29,563 Disgorgement; Compliance Training.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under the Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2, for a manipulative trading scheme designed to improperly collect a market credit.
In re Westar Energy, Inc., 142 FERC ¶ 61,066 (Jan. 25, 2013)	$420,000 Civil Penalty; $1,153,836 Disgorgement (to customers and SPP); Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under the Southwest Power Pool’s Open Access Transmission Tariff for use of secondary network integrated transmission service (NITS) for the purchase of electricity to facilitate off-system sales.
Deutsche Bank Energy Trading, LLC, 142 FERC ¶ 61,056 (Jan. 22, 2013)	$1,500,000 Civil Penalty; $172,645 Disgorgement; Compliance Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission issued an Order to Show Cause why it should not assess a penalty for violation of the Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2, for trading electricity exports in the California ISO market to affect the value of related congestion revenue rights in that market; and violation of 18 C.F.R. § 35.41(b) for submission of false information to the ISO by improperly designating transactions in contravention to the tariff definitions. The Commission subsequently approved a settlement resolving the matter.
In re Progress Energy Florida, Inc., 142 FERC ¶ 61,041 (Jan. 16, 2013)	$80,000 Civil Penalty; Compliance Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under the Commission order granting the entity Market Based Rate authority and under the entity’s tariff for making sales at market-based rates that should have been at cost-based rates.

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