Perot: Cal-ISO Documents Leaked

An engineer working for Perot Systems Corp. to set up the California Independent System Operator’s computers in 1997 gave confidential Cal-ISO documents to a consultant working for a Taiwanese power company, according to internal Perot Systems e-mail messages obtained as part of a state investigation.

The Perot Systems worker, Shangyou Hao, was paid $480 by the Taipower consultant even though Hao was a full-time employee of the Plano, Texas, computer company, the messages and a letter from a Perot Systems lawyer indicate. Hao, who could not be reached for comment, recently was fired because of the incident.

“It was a clear violation of company policy,” Perot spokesman Eddie Reeves said.

Perot Systems, which has been accused by state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana) of peddling a detailed plan to electricity suppliers on how to manipulate California electricity markets, said the documents leaked by Hao were about computer systems and had nothing to do with allegations of market manipulation.

The e-mail messages indicate that Taipower, interested in setting up a grid operator similar to Cal-ISO, wanted several items, including documents describing the hardware and software used by the Cal-ISO control center to balance supply and demand on the state’s transmission grid.

A Cal-ISO lawyer expressed alarm at the breach of confidentiality but said officials at the state’s transmission grid operator say the leaks pose no threat to its system.

“We don’t believe there is any risk to the system, but we’re still assessing,” Cal-ISO general counsel Charles Robinson said. “We have lots of firewalls.”

Perot Systems disclosed the incident in a news release Wednesday. The company said it recently discovered the ethical breach as part of an extensive five-month search for documents requested by several governmental inquiries into manipulation of California energy markets, including a probe by Dunn’s special investigative committee.

Company founder H. Ross Perot, a two-time U.S. presidential candidate, appeared before Dunn’s committee in July and said his company did not sell confidential information to help others profit from the market’s weaknesses.

Perot Systems on Wednesday said that after producing more than 70,000 pages of documents in response to the investigations, the company “continues to believe that it was never engaged by any market participant to provide market simulation or gaming software or services for the deregulated California energy market.”