Public Utilities Commission of the State of California v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

This case comes to us on petitions for review of a series of orders issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) relating to the energy crisis that occurred in California in 2000 and 2001. Nearly 200 petitions for review of the various FERC orders have been filed in our Court. We consolidated these petitions for administrative management.

On November 24, 2004, we issued a consolidated order in this case separating certain issues for decision in two consolidated proceedings, the first of which we termed the “Jurisdictional Cases”; the second we termed the “Scope/Transactions Cases.” In the Jurisdictional Cases, we considered whether FERC’s refund authority extended to certain governmental entities. We heard oral arguments on Jurisdictional Cases on April 12, 2005, and issued an opinion concerning the Jurisdictional Cases on September 6, 2005. Bonneville Power Admin. v. FERC, 422 F.3d 908 (9th Cir.2005).

The Scope/Transaction Cases before us here involve numerous questions pertaining to the proper scope of FERC’s refund orders, including the appropriate temporal reach and the type of transactions properly subject to the refund orders. We heard oral arguments on the…