A scandal worth over $30 billion dollars in fraud. The article, Enron ‘manipulated energy crisis’, published in BBC News, reported a series of electricity blackouts experienced by California State in 2001 resulting in skyrocketing utility prices. Power rates increased by nearly fifty times after the mysterious shortages. The puppeteer behind this plan to tamper with the energy market was Enron Energy Services. By making false trades with various energy companies to increase the price of electricity, Enron profited enormously at the cost of consumers when electricity sources had become scarce. Consumers faced huge financial challenges during the period of shortages while the power plants continued to control where the next blackouts would occur.
While Enron hid its illegal dealings well, the government in turn did little to intervene. Other officials simply stated that the rapid price increases were caused by the nature of the free market. Furthermore, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) which is responsible for investigating such activity claimed to uncover little evidence of suspicious activity at the time.
Undoubtedly, this level of theft, along with other ethical violations that Enron was involved has redefined legal business practices following. Although Enron’s tactic to maximize profits in the most desperate times demonstrates fraud at its finest, one can hardly disagree that the idea was brilliant one. What is your opinion on Enron’s innovative ways even in corrupting practices?