NEWS RELEASE
Committee on Energy and Commerce Democrats
Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Markup of Energy Legislation:
The Republican Electricity Title Hurts Consumers and Investors

Washington, D.C. – The Committee on Energy and Commerce, in its second day of marking-up a comprehensive energy bill, is considering Title VII on electricity. Republican Members of the Committee voted unanimously to defeat an amendment by Ranking Member John D. Dingell to replace electricity deregulation measures in the Republican crafted bill with new provisions to prohibit fraud and abuse.

"Enron, Ken Lay and others of their ilk will joyfully revel in the passage of the Republican electricity provisions," said Dingell. "Instead of protecting consumers from future rascality, these provisions will actually allow new abuses."

The Republican bill would repeal the Public Utility Holding Company Act, a law that protects consumers and investors from corporate abuses. The bill would also repeal other electricity provisions and override state and federal laws on siting power lines.

The Dingell amendment would have made targeted common-sense reforms designed to ensure that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Securities Exchange Commission have the tools and power they need to fulfil their roles to protect consumers and investors. The amendment would ban fraudulent or manipulative practices in the sale or transmission of electricity, or the sale of natural gas, and adopt civil and criminal penalties for fraud identical to those in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that was signed into law last year.

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