Features

WASHINGTON — California has reached agreement with five more energy companies to revise long-term power contracts negotiated during the state’s energy crisis, the federal official overseeing the negotiations said Wednesday. 

Curtis L. Wagner, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s chief administrative law judge, provided no details of the settlements, which he said are being put into writing. Tulsa-based Williams Cos. said last month it was one of the companies nearing an agreement on the long-term contracts. 

But California officials wouldn’t confirm Wagner’s announcement. 

Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis, said the state has no comment on Wagner’s report. “We’re making progress and we look forward to more talks.” 

The state also is negotiating with eight other companies to cut the costs of some of the $43 billion in contracts signed when power prices were high. Wagner said he is giving the state and the companies the rest of August to agree to rework the contracts. Wagner initially set this week as the deadline for negotiations. 

The state signed 56 long-term power deals last year at the height of the power crisis. The California Department of Water Resources began buying energy in January 2001, after three utilities amassed billions of dollars in debts due to high wholesale costs and couldn’t buy energy for their customers. Davis has credited the long-term deals with taming the market and providing reliable supplies. 

But as power prices declined from more than $300 per megawatt hour to under $40 this year, California filed complaints with FERC, alleging the contracts were signed under duress.