Judge temporarily blocks CalPX from forcing AEP money.(American Electric Power Corp., California Power Exchange Corp.)(Brief Article)

A local judge has given American Electric Power Corp. a temporary reprieve from being forced to help in the bailout of California's electric deregulation mess.

Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Deb O'Neill issued a temporary restraining order Feb. 1 against California Power Exchange Corp., the market maker for wholesale electricity trading at the center of California's deepening power Woes.

CalPX, as it's known, had demanded Jan. 30 that National City Bank wire it $500,000 under a letter of credit the bank had issued to CalPX for AEP's trading subsidiary, American Electric Power Service Corp. (AEPSC). AEP posted the $1.5 million letter of credit as collateral so it could begin trading in 1998.

National City said it would comply with the demand at 4:20 p.m. Feb. 1 absent a court order, which AEP applied for and got the same day.

AEP, one of the nation's largest utilities, does not generate any power for the California market. It did, however, become one of the more than 100 companies trading in electricity in the state after California deregulated the wholesale side of the market and set up exchanges for marketers and traders to buy power from generators and sell it to utilities.

The state's decision to let wholesale prices fluctuate in an open market ...