All Civil Penalty Actions – 2014

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
MISO Cinergy Hub Transactions (Twin Cities Power – Canada, Ltd., Twin Cities Energy, LLC, Twin Cities Power, LLC, Jason F. Vaccaro, Allan Cho, Gaurav Sharma) 149 FERC ¶ 61,278 (December 30, 2014)	$2,500,000 Civil Penalty, Twin Cities; $978,186 Disgorgement, Twin Cities; $400,000 Civil Penalty, trader Jason F. Vaccaro; $275,000 Civil Penalty, trader Allan Cho; $75,000 Civil Penalty, trader Gaurav Sharma; Compliance Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved four settlements resolving findings that the company and three former traders violated the Commission's Prohibition of Electric Energy Market Manipulation, 18 C.F.R. 1c.2 by scheduling and trading physical power in MISO to benefit related swap positions that settle off of real-time MISO prices.
Houlian Chen Powhatan Energy Fund, LLC HEEP Fund, LLC. CU Fund, Inc. , 149 FERC ¶ 61,261 (December 17, 2014) Order Revising Show Cause Order 149 FERC ¶ 61,263 (December 18, 2014)	Proposed civil penalties and disgorgement as follows: Powhatan Energy Fund: Civil Penalty of $16,800,000 and Disgorgement of $3,465,108 in unjust profits; CU Fund: Civil Penalty of $10,080,000 and Disgorgement of $1,080,576 in unjust profits; HEEP Fund: Civil Penalty of $1,920,000 and Disgorgement of $173,100 in unjust profits; Houlian Chen: Civil Penalty of $500,000 for his acts on behalf of Powhatan Energy Fund and HEEP Fund and $500,000 for his acts on behalf of CU Fund.	The Commission issued an Order Assessing Civil Penalties finding a violation of the section 222 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C. § 824v, and the Commission’s Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2, by engaging in fraudulent Up To Congestion (UTC) transactions in order to collect Marginal Loss Surplus Allocation (MLSA) payments in PJM Interconnection L.L.C.’s energy markets.
California Independent System Operator 149 FERC ¶ 61,189 (November 28, 2014)	$6,000,000, offset by $4,000,000 in Reliability Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under 3 Requirements of 3 Reliability Standards for failures to: monitor the current flow on Path 44 in amps, or by any other method that would alert operators to the need for corrective action to avert operation of the separation scheme at the San Onofre switchyard, to operate so that instability, uncontrolled separation and cascading outages would not occur as the result of a single contingency, and establish valid system operating limits.
Western Area Power Administration – Desert Southwest Region 149 FERC ¶ 61,157 (November 24, 2014)	Mitigation and compliance enhancement measures; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under 4 Requirements of 3 Reliability Standards for failure to operate Western-DSW’s portion of the transmission system within voltage system operating limits and maintain sufficient situational awareness.
Southern California Edison Company, 149 FERC ¶ 61,061 (October 21, 2014)	$650,000, offset by $400,000 in Reliability Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under 1 Requirement of 1 Reliability Standard for failure to coordinate SCE’s intertie separation scheme with other protection systems.
Direct Energy Services, LLC, 148 FERC ¶ 61,114 (August 11, 2014)	$20,000 civil penalty; $31,935 disgorgement; continuing existing compliance measures going forward; compliance monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement arising from a self-report by Direct Energy that led to an investigation in which Staff concluded that two traders formerly employed by Direct Energy manipulated the price of physical natural gas at two hubs on several days in May 2012 to benefit related financial positions. Staff also concluded that Direct Energy promptly (i) discovered the trades, (ii) suspended the traders, (iii) investigated the situation, (iv) fired the traders, and (iv) self-reported, after which it cooperated fully in Staff’s investigation.
Imperial Irrigation District, 148 FERC ¶ 61,108 (August 7, 2014)	$12,000,000, offset by $9,000,000 in Reliability Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under 10 Requirements of 4 Reliability Standards for failures to: perform certain necessary operational planning studies, coordinate those studies with its neighboring transmission operators, establish valid system operating limits, conduct near- and long-term planning studies that consider the most severe system results, and operate the system to prevent any disturbance from creating emergency operating conditions.
Arizona Public Service Company, 148 FERC ¶ 61,009 (July 7, 2014)	$3,250,000 Civil Penalty, offset by $1,250,000 to be expended on Reliability and Compliance Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under 4 Requirements of 2 Reliability Standards for failure to perform certain necessary operational planning studies, coordinate those studies with its neighboring transmission operators, and operate the system to prevent any disturbance from creating emergency operating conditions.
Indianapolis Power & Light Company, 148 FERC ¶ 61,007 (July 3, 2014)	$32,500 Civil Penalty; $301,000 Disgorgement; Compliance Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving admitted violation of section 39.2.5 (c) of the MISO tariff for failure to adjust its real-time offers for the unit to reflect its actual capacity on two days when conditions limited its available output.
BP America Inc., BP Corporation North America Inc., BP America Production Company, BP Energy Company, 147 FERC ¶ 61,130 (May 15, 2014) Prior Commission Activity: Order to Show Cause and Notice of Proposed Penalty, 144 FERC ¶ 61,100 (Aug. 5, 2013)	Proposed $28,000,000 Civil Penalty and other sanctions including disgorgement of unjust profits pending hearing and consideration by the Commission.	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. The Commission has set the matter for hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.
International Transmission Company, Michigan Electric Transmission Company, LLC, ITC Midwest LLC, ITC Great Plains, LLC, 146 FERC ¶ 61,172 (Mar. 11, 2014)	$750,000 Civil Penalty; Compliance Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under FPA section 205 for failure to timely file jurisdictional contracts and under FPA section 203 for failure to timely seek Commission authorization for jurisdictional transactions.
MISO Virtual and FTR Trading (Louis Dreyfus Energy Services), 146 FERC ¶ 61,072 (Feb. 7, 2014)	$4,072,257 Civil Penalty, LDES; $3,334,000 Disgorgement, LDES; $310,000 Civil Penalty, Cheng; Compliance Enhancements; Compliance Monitoring.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under the Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2, for virtual transactions made to increase the value of the company’s position in financial transmission rights.
In re Erie Boulevard Hydropower, L.P. and Brookfield Power US Assets Management, LLC (BPAM), 146 FERC ¶ 61,027 (Jan. 15, 2014)	$4,000,000 Civil Penalty against Erie; $1,700,000 Public Safety Enhancements by Erie and BPAM; Compliance and Operational Enhancements.	The Commission approved a settlement resolving findings under Part 12 of the Commission’s regulations for failure to adequately maintain and operate dam safety mechanisms.

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