CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Enron Corp. used Alberta as a testing ground for wholesale power trading schemes that would later become notorious in charges of price manipulation in California's energy crisis, an attorney with a Washington state public utility said on Friday.
Enron, the bankrupt energy trader, artificially inflated electricity prices in Alberta as part of a scheme called "Project Stanley," as the province was deregulating its power sector in 1999, Snohomish County Public Utility District said, citing Enron documents and tapes made public this week.
At one point in the spring of 1999, Enron traders in Alberta were able to play the system to reap revenues of C$45 million ($36 million) in one day, while pushing the spot price of electricity up by about 10 times, according to an analysis prepared by Massachusetts-based Frontier Economics Inc.
The Washington state utility said knowledge of the Canadian activities went "to the very top of the Enron organization."
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