By Athena Eastwood, Mark Haskell, Anthony Mansfield, Gregory Mocek, Paul Pantano, Brett Snyder, Jonathan Flynn, Christopher Hood, Neal Kumar, Thomas Millar, and Michael Selig
On May 10, 2016, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) proposed an amendment (“Proposed Amendment”) to an order it issued on March 28, 2013 (“RTO-ISO Order”), exempting certain electric energy transactions from a number of provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and CFTC regulations other than the general anti-fraud and anti-manipulation provisions, and other scienter-based prohibitions. If adopted, the Proposed Amendment would clarify that private rights of action under Section 22 of the CEA are not exempt under the RTO-ISO Order. Accordingly, plaintiffs would be permitted to pursue CEA-based allegations of fraud and market manipulation in connection with wholesale electricity market transactions that are primarily regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”) even though the Federal Power Act bars private actions. read more