The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has given its stamp of approval to a $120 million settlement reached in March between California and New Jersey-based NRG Energy over gouging of state energy consumers during the 2000-01 Enron-led energy crisis.

NRG bought Dynegy Energy, the company that overcharged the state for power, in 2006 and assumed responsibility for any claims against it. As part of the settlement, NRG agreed to invest approximately $100 million in infrastructure over four years, and give $20 million to the California Public Utility Commission.

Competitors of NRG were quick to point out that the “punishment” suffered by the company included essentially winning a $100 million no-bid development contract from the state. Under the agreement, NRG will build a network of charging stations for electric vehicles (EV) that will provide a significant boost to the state’s embryonic EV industry and support for electric vehicle owners looking to plug in.

Critics also claimed the state could have pressed for a much larger settlement.

NRG subsidiary eVgo will begin building 200 charging stations, 110 around Los Angeles and 55 in the San Francisco Bay area, by 2014. The company will also retrofit 10,000 parking spaces—at multifamily buildings, large work sites, universities and hospitals— in various regions with the necessary wiring, but not the units themselves, to charge electric vehicles. NRG will provide training for hundreds of jobs necessary to install and maintain the stations.

Ecotality, an NRG competitor, sued shortly after the settlement was announced earlier in the year and argued in its lawsuit: “Such ‘punishment’ is equivalent to a motorist settling his speeding citation by simply being required to buy a faster car, subsidized by the public.” Apparently never at a loss for an analogy, Ecotality CEO Jonathan Read also argued on its website: “This so-called ‘punishment’ is like a restaurant failing a health inspection then being given an exclusive franchise to open and operate every restaurant in the city, subsidized by public funds.”

A judge for California's 1st District Court of Appeal, in San Francisco tossed the lawsuit out last month.

Governor Jerry Brown has signed an executive order that sets targets for putting 1.5 million “zero-emission vehicles” on the road by 2025. It includes all major cities having adequate infrastructure in place to accommodate EVs by 2015, enough infrastructure statewide to support 1 million EVs by 2020, and virtually all vehicles in the state zero-emission by 2050.   

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

State Settlement with Energy Firm Approved (by Mark Glover, Sacramento Bee)

Calif Gets 200 EV Charging Stations in Settlement (Associated Press)

NRG Energy Prepares to Deliver $100M to California for Plug-In Car Infrastructure (by Herman K. Trabish, Green Tech Media)

Ecotality Sues to Stop NRG Electric Charging Network in California (by Katie Fehrenbacher, GigaOm)