The Illinois attorney general’s office and Public Citizen are calling on FERC to release private files pertaining to the commission’s investigation of Dynegy’s conduct during MISO’s 2015 capacity auction.

The organizations lodged a motion Jan. 6 asking FERC to direct its Office of Enforcement to allow access to “all documents and materials in its possession collected by enforcement staff during the non-public investigation of Dynegy.” (EL15-71)

The Office of Enforcement concluded in a heavily redacted report last September that Dynegy engaged in market manipulation to ensure it could set prices in MISO’s 2015-16 planning resource auction. The finding reversed a three-year, non-public FERC investigation that cleared Dynegy of wrongdoing before ending abruptly in 2019. (See FERC Staff Finds Dynegy Manipulated 2015 MISO Capacity Auction.)

Illinois and Public Citizen said they’re seeking documents that Dynegy or others provided to FERC enforcement staff during the investigation that they weren’t privy to. They said they anticipate documents and depositions “that will likely be relevant to the issues” raised in their complaints.

The organizations have requested $428.6 million and interest from June 2015 to refund Illinois load serving entities’ customers in MISO’s Zone 4.

They said they have executed nondisclosure agreements to receive non-public filings from Dynegy about the refunds’ status. They also said they’ve already committed to safeguarding information when they were granted access to the case’s confidential remand report and appendix documents.

“The People and Public Citizen have already agreed to protect investigation materials in accordance with the commission’s model protective order and should be granted the ability to review any and all materials in the possession of, or acquired by, enforcement staff,” they wrote.