madam chairman , i want to speak to one aspect of this very important consumer protection amendment , and that is what the amendment is : it protects consumers . 
the issue i want to talk about is refund authority . 
can there be any doubt today that western consumers were gouged as a result of energy market manipulation in 2000 and 2001 ? 
can there be any doubt that refunds are owed ? 
so when a member rises on the floor and talks about retroactive and it is not fair to have something retroactive , we have to have the arm of the law reach back so consumers are refunded the dollars that they were ripped off . 
madam chairman , 5 years after the crisis in california , no refunds have been ordered because for 5 years the federal energy regulatory commission has insisted it does not have the authority to order the retroactive refunds that will fully compensate consumers . 
ferc knows the evidence , and here it is : one , enron memos reveal that the energy trading company implemented elaborate market manipulation strategies to drive up prices . 
the enron memos gave these ploys names like fat boy , death star , and get shorty . 
number two , audio tapes of enron energy traders surfaced that confirmed the existence of secret deals with power producers that deliberately drove up prices by ordering power plants shut down . 
number three , transcripts of reliant energy traders from 2000 revealed that reliant power plant operators deliberately kept power offline in order to increase energy prices at the height of the crisis . 
four , on march 3 , 2003 , a coalition of california governmental entities and public utilities presented the ferc with more than 1 , 000 pages of evidence documenting a `` pervasive pattern of market manipulation that resulted in disastrous effects on prices and reliability. '' and in march 2003 , the ferc confirmed that significant power manipulation had taken place in the west . 
this amendment gives the ferc broad authority to order retroactive refunds for market-based rates that are not just and reasonable . 
for california , billions are at stake . 
i urge a vote for this amendment . 
last fall governor schwarzenegger said , `` californians deserve refunds to fairly compensate them for the excessively high prices they paid during the energy crisis . '' 