The Death Star strategy was the name Enron gave to their practice of shuffling energy around the California power grid to receive payments from the state for "relieving congestion." According to the company's own memo they would be paid "for moving energy to relieve congestion, without actually moving any energy or relieving any congestion." Enron Corporation (Former NYSE ticker symbol: ENE) was an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Transmission towers Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power transmission, or more accurately Electrical energy transmission, is the second process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... Congestion is a state of excessive accumulation or overfilling or overcrowding. ...

For example, if the California power grid was congested with energy flowing south, Enron would schedule energy to be transmitted north to Oregon. They would receive a payment from California for apparently relieving congestion on the grid. Then Enron would schedule the energy to be transferred back to its point of origin, but not through California. Ultimately the energy would end up right back where it started, and Enron would be paid by California without actually putting any electricity on their grid. Official language(s) (none)[1] Capital Salem Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 9th  - Total 98,466 sq mi (255,026 km²)  - Width 260 miles (420 km)  - Length 360 miles (580 km)  - % water 2. ...

Similar business practices by Enron

"Fat Boy": This scam (aka "Inc-ing") also involved overscheduling power transmission – for example, to a company subsidiary that didn't really need all of it. Then Enron would sell the "excess" power to the state at a premium.

"Ricochet": Also called "megawatt-laundering" (by analogy to money-laundering), Ricochet was the power equivalent of a real-estate land flip: buy in-state power cheaply, flip it out-of-state to an intermediary, then re-sell it to California at a highly inflated "imported" price. Money laundering, the metaphorical cleaning of money with regard to appearances in law, is the practice of engaging in specific financial transactions in order to conceal the identity, source, and/or destination of money, and is a main operation of underground economy. ...

External links

• Glossary of questionable Enron deals