[NHResident]

The whole story reads like the script of a bad movie or made-for-TV special. Given this is the NYT - I don't give it any creditability without significantly more complete evidence and verification from other sources. There were too many other real economic and market forces at work in California that drove the engergy fiasco.

[Woodman]

I used to test energy derivatives trading software (spent some time on the trading floors) and I also was a spot FX broker for quite a few years. This does not sound like a made for TV Movie, it sounds like a normal conversation between a trader and a broker except for the PLANNED outage. Normally if you didn't want to go to Jail you would tell your "buddy" something more along the lines of "We're having some problems at XYZ plant and I don't think it will make it through tomorrows Peak..."

Someone is going to Jail for both being a crook and being very stupid. Every conversation in every trading room is recorded. Someone got a hold of the tape before it was reused or has an exceptional archival system.

My 2 cents FWIW.