https://www.spglobal.com/commodityi...to-ban-traders-that-manipulate-energy-markets Democratic lawmakers in the US Senate and House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission new authority to temporarily or permanently ban traders that manipulate power and gas markets. The bill's sponsors say that the measure is needed to help keep energy prices in check. The measure would "create new tools to prevent bad actors from manipulating energy markets and hiking up prices for consumers and businesses alike," Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Democrat-Nevada, said in a statement. FERC Chairman Richard Glick previously has called on Congress to give the commission explicit authority to ban traders from FERC jurisdictional markets. "Robust and consistent enforcement is a top priority for Chairman Glick, who has repeatedly highlighted the importance of a trader ban as an important enforcement tool," Mary O'Driscoll, a FERC spokesperson, said in a July 29 statement. The Senate bill (S.4679) was cosponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat-Washington. The companion bill in the House (H.R.8578) was introduced July 28 by Representative Jan Schakowsky, Democrat-Illinois, and co-sponsored by Representatives Sean Casten, Democrat-Illinois and Don Beyer, Democrat-Virginia. Trader ban The measure would allow FERC to temporarily or permanently ban companies from trading in energy markets if they violated the Federal Power Act by manipulating those markets, or if they file false information regarding natural gas sales or transmission, according to Schakowsky's statement on the bill. While the current law prohibits market manipulation and false or misleading representations, FERC's current enforcement tools are not enough to keep traders from violating the law, Schakowsky's statement said. Cantwell noted that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 strengthened FERC's authority to investigate and punish market manipulation in the electricity and gas markets. Since then, FERC has approved 127 settlement agreements, assessing over $790 million in civil penalties and disgorging over $521 million in illegal profits, Cantwell's statement said. "This legislation will add a key consumer protection arrow to FERC's quiver by blocking market manipulators from repeating their crimes and harming energy consumers," Cantwell said. "The burden of today's elevated energy prices makes the quick passage of this bill more important than ever," she said. Glick's request In 2019, Glick asked Congress to provide FERC with explicit authority to prohibit repeat violators from continuing to participate in commission-jurisdictional markets in certain circumstances. Glick was a FERC member, but was not the FERC chairman at that time. "Although FERC has, in the past, included so-called 'trader bans' as part of several settlements, it is not clear that the commission has the authority to impose such a measure without the trader's consent, even in the face of multiple instances of manipulation," Glick said in a Nov. 4, 2019 letter to Cantwell. Past trader bans include a 2021 FERC settlement that contained a two-year ban for a trader who allegedly conducted fraudulent up-to congestion trades in PJM Interconnection. In 2017, FERC approved a settlement that included a three-year ban for a trader accused of placing fraudulent financial trades to get improper payments from PJM. And in 2015, FERC approved a settlement with a one-year ban for a trader who allegedly violated anti-manipulation rules for gas trading.
The US leftist government switches to "state controlled markets". How does this differ from communism? No more "free markets" or "market economy". Welcome again to this Hollowistan!...
Why am I not surprised the politicians of Mr Bidens party are under the assumption traders are at fault for high gas prices instead of their presidents moronic policies. They ALWAYS blame others when their misguided egalitarian-socialist ideas turn to sh@t.
A much better move would be to ban presidential administrations that manipulate energy markets--especially when it goes against our own interest.
Exactly. For every buyer there is a seller. If you don't like the price on the order book then you are not obligated to take it. One thing you never see when people blame traders is a quantitative analysis of just why trading is doing something bad. "Bad trading" is only described in subjective and emotional terms.
Joe Biden or the Democrats do not mention the 5,000,000 barrels of oil from the US strategic petroleum reserve they sold to Europe nor the undisclosed amount of oil they sold to China. All to make it seem oil prices are going down by increasing supply temporarily. That is total, utter manipulation by any measure. I hope Putin cuts 1,000,000 barrels of oil from Russian oil production if only to teach these fools a huge lesson on supply and demand. If he does that, oil prices could easily reach $120 or more per barrel. Maybe, Biden will use up what is left of the US strategic petroleum reserve then. The clown show continues.
Correct. SPR levels are their lowest since 1985. Biden says he will begin purchasing oil for the SPR starting in a couple of months. The problem with market manipulations is that the market is always better capitalized than you are, even if you have the US SPR.