{"id":305426,"date":"2024-03-01T11:45:08","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T10:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=305426"},"modified":"2024-03-01T11:45:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T10:45:10","slug":"iso-rto-gaming-ketchup-caddy-gets-caught","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=305426","title":{"rendered":"ISO\/RTO Gaming: \u201cKetchup Caddy\u201d Gets Caught"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Master Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Bradley Jr<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Philip] Mango told FERC staff he planned to \u2018[d]o this for just a couple of years, make a bunch of money to put kids through school and do all those things, and no one\u2019s hurt\u2019 \u2026. Ketchup Caddy [was] a corporate entity that Mango had created to sell an in-car ketchup holder he invented\u2026.\u201d (Utility Drive, below)<\/span>

Why do the worst often get on top where political entrepreneurship replaces market entrepreneurship? Why does regulation invite gaming where (at best)\u00a0entrepreneurship is superfluous<\/a>?Consider the\u00a01970s oil trading boom<\/a>, where price-controlled oil was bid up to market levels without any value-added.\u00a0Robert Sutton<\/a>, a former trunk salesman, became a regulatory millionaire on that one.Remember Enron\u2019s gaming of the California hyper-regulated electricity market in 2000\/2001? Three authors\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Business History Review<\/em>:<\/p>

Enron\u2019s traders used their knowledge of the newly designed markets to artificially increase or decrease wholesale prices in their favor, which often involved submitting false supply-and-demand information, withholding available electricity, or scheduling energy they did not have. They also made use of flaws in the market\u2019s new computerized scheduling system, for instance, deliberately overloading parts of the grid to then receive payments for relieving it.Additionally, the FERC found that Enron had entered into undisclosed partnerships with numerous market participants, which allowed it to control energy scheduling and physical infrastructure. Not only did these actions exacerbate the state\u2019s high energy prices and supply issues, but they directly violated Enron\u2019s market-based rate authority and also contravened numerous rules set out in the protocols designed to govern the new system<\/p>\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/cite><\/blockquote>

Here is the latest as reported by Ethan Howland in Utility Drive \u201cFERC Enforcement Office Seeks $27M from Ketchup Caddy for MISO Demand Response Fraud<\/a>\u201d (February 22, 2024).<\/p>

<\/a>Ketchup Caddy and its owner should pay about $27 million for manipulating the Midcontinent Independent System Operator\u2019s demand response resource programs and offering uncontracted capacity into MISO\u2019s capacity auctions, according to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission enforcement office staff.\u201cKetchup Caddy operated as a fraudulent enterprise with no legitimate market activity, registering and clearing demand resources without their knowledge or consent and collected capacity payments in turn, without making payments to the registered resources,\u201d FERC enforcement office staff said in\u00a0a report on its investigation<\/a>\u00a0released Wednesday as part of a \u201cshow cause\u201d order.<\/p><\/blockquote>

<\/p>

Ethan Howland continued:<\/p>

Philip Mango, Ketchup Caddy\u2019s CEO and co-owner, admitted that he didn\u2019t try to contract with, or contact, potential customers, and that the fake customers Ketchup Caddy registered with MISO would not have responded if dispatched, enforcement office staff said.Ketchup Caddy, Mango and Todd Meinershagen, a company co-founder, received about $1 million in capacity payments from three MISO capacity auctions starting with its 2019\/20 auction, according to FERC staff.\u00a0The company\u2019s fraudulent offers reduced revenue to other market participants by $17.6 million, staff estimated\u2026.<\/p><\/blockquote>

How did he do it?<\/p>

According to enforcement office staff, Meinershagen \u201cscraped\u201d an Ameren website to collect customer data. He used an automated tool to flood the website with millions of random account numbers until it found a valid customer account, and then downloaded the account data to a spreadsheet, FERC staff said. Ketchup Caddy used that information as the basis for its participation in MISO\u2019s capacity auctions, according to staff.Ketchup Caddy cleared 211.1 MW of capacity to begin performing on June 1, 2019, according to FERC staff. In the following two auctions, it cleared 303.2 MW and 372.3 MW. MISO did not call a curtailment event during those planning years and required only mock tests to verify performance, so Ketchup Caddy\u2019s false registrations and offers went undetected until staff\u2019s investigation, according to the report.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>

Curiouser and curiouser:<\/p>

Mango told FERC staff he planned to \u201c[d]o this for just a couple of years, make a bunch of money to put kids through school and do all those things, and no one\u2019s hurt,\u201d according to the report. \u201cUpon further reflection, I realize the egregiousness and the error of my ways.\u201dKetchup Caddy \u2014 a corporate entity that Mango had created to sell an in-car ketchup holder he invented \u2014 is based in Frisco, Texas, according to\u00a0its market participant agreement<\/a>\u00a0with MISO. The grid operator removed Ketchup Caddy from its capacity market in October 2021 after it learned about Ketchup Caddy\u2019s fraudulent registrations, FERC staff said\u2026.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Philip Mango and Ketchup Caddy got caught\u2013barely<\/em>. But how many subtle manipulations have gone or are going undetected in the regulatory complexity where large rulebooks substitute for the free market\u2019s \u2018simple rules for a complex world<\/a>\u2018?<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philip Mango and Ketchup Caddy got caught\u2013barely. But how many subtle manipulations have gone or are going undetected in the regulatory complexity where large rulebooks substitute for the free market\u2019s \u2018simple rules for a complex world\u2018?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":305428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Philip Mango and Ketchup Caddy got caught\u2013barely. But how many subtle manipulations have gone or are going undetected in the regulatory complexity where large rulebooks substitute for the free market\u2019s \u2018simple rules for a complex world\u2018?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818068,691823572,691819409,691827318,691827316,691827317],"class_list":["post-305426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-california","tag-electricity-market","tag-ferc","tag-ketchup-caddy","tag-political-entrepreneurship","tag-price-controlled-oil","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0PicsArt_08-09-05.13.56.jpg?fit=1600%2C1059&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1hse","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":256566,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=256566","url_meta":{"origin":305426,"position":0},"title":"FERC commissioners tell senators of major grid reliability challenges, with some blaming markets","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The U.S. grid faces major reliability challenges, according to members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission who used the word 34 times in their prepared testimony Thursday at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing.","rel":"","context":"In \"Energy and Natural Resources Committee\"","block_context":{"text":"Energy and Natural Resources Committee","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=energy-and-natural-resources-committee"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0Screenshot_2023-05-04_2.29.36_PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0Screenshot_2023-05-04_2.29.36_PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0Screenshot_2023-05-04_2.29.36_PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0Screenshot_2023-05-04_2.29.36_PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0Screenshot_2023-05-04_2.29.36_PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":409201,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=409201","url_meta":{"origin":305426,"position":1},"title":"President Trump is fixing FERC","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/20\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The weaponization of government was a major driver of President Donald Trump\u2019s historic comeback. From the Department of Justice labeling certain mothers \u201cdomestic terrorists\u201d to the Transportation Safety Agency (TSA) adding individuals unwilling to wear masks to the \u201cno-fly\u201d list, the Biden administration left no stone unturned.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate agenda\"","block_context":{"text":"climate agenda","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-agenda"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0Screenshot-2025-10-20-100924.png?fit=1200%2C551&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0Screenshot-2025-10-20-100924.png?fit=1200%2C551&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0Screenshot-2025-10-20-100924.png?fit=1200%2C551&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0Screenshot-2025-10-20-100924.png?fit=1200%2C551&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0Screenshot-2025-10-20-100924.png?fit=1200%2C551&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":249177,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=249177","url_meta":{"origin":305426,"position":2},"title":"Congressional ethics inquiry into Green Activism in Federal commission marks anniversary","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/23\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Congressional figures responsible for conducting oversight are in position to corral green activists who have burrowed into federal agencies while jeopardizing the domestic availability of energy.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-950.png?fit=1200%2C651&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-950.png?fit=1200%2C651&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-950.png?fit=1200%2C651&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-950.png?fit=1200%2C651&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-950.png?fit=1200%2C651&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":245261,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245261","url_meta":{"origin":305426,"position":3},"title":"How FERC can protect the grid from wind and solar","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/24\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"FERC has no control over what power generators get built, that is a State function. But they do have a say in what is hooked into the grid, which is called interconnection. Reliability starts with interconnection approval.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-705.png?fit=1200%2C510&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-705.png?fit=1200%2C510&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-705.png?fit=1200%2C510&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-705.png?fit=1200%2C510&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-705.png?fit=1200%2C510&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":243441,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=243441","url_meta":{"origin":305426,"position":4},"title":"FERC\u2019s role in the offshore wind stampede","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Of particular interest is that the lead sponsor of this study is the Natural Resources Defense Council or NRDC. They are, or used to be, one of America\u2019s biggest environmental advocacy outfits.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-219.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-219.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-219.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-219.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-219.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":411051,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411051","url_meta":{"origin":305426,"position":5},"title":"DOE Grid Policy & Data Centers: New Thinking Ahead?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/30\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Department of Energy has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to federalize and streamline the connection of large data centers to the interstate transmission grid. DOE last week (Oct. 23) sent FERC a\u00a016-page draft notice of proposed rule making, asking the commission to enact the new, unprecedented rule by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"AI (artificial intelligence)\"","block_context":{"text":"AI (artificial intelligence)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ai-artificial-intelligence-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQNnRB_WKRErkZxPVVqxtmR-tMB-iSng49apc0cqwD0chgSuAOayMfuYYSCtPkMOYN13rtnZtI0xUT5qpZIjuIoVXf1do-8XUa_LniZj4iMMaGq8VFh7bc0yqULzIAxg7SU0cBU1uuDS5yXSf9-wRq4fDPhtoQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQNnRB_WKRErkZxPVVqxtmR-tMB-iSng49apc0cqwD0chgSuAOayMfuYYSCtPkMOYN13rtnZtI0xUT5qpZIjuIoVXf1do-8XUa_LniZj4iMMaGq8VFh7bc0yqULzIAxg7SU0cBU1uuDS5yXSf9-wRq4fDPhtoQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQNnRB_WKRErkZxPVVqxtmR-tMB-iSng49apc0cqwD0chgSuAOayMfuYYSCtPkMOYN13rtnZtI0xUT5qpZIjuIoVXf1do-8XUa_LniZj4iMMaGq8VFh7bc0yqULzIAxg7SU0cBU1uuDS5yXSf9-wRq4fDPhtoQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQNnRB_WKRErkZxPVVqxtmR-tMB-iSng49apc0cqwD0chgSuAOayMfuYYSCtPkMOYN13rtnZtI0xUT5qpZIjuIoVXf1do-8XUa_LniZj4iMMaGq8VFh7bc0yqULzIAxg7SU0cBU1uuDS5yXSf9-wRq4fDPhtoQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQNnRB_WKRErkZxPVVqxtmR-tMB-iSng49apc0cqwD0chgSuAOayMfuYYSCtPkMOYN13rtnZtI0xUT5qpZIjuIoVXf1do-8XUa_LniZj4iMMaGq8VFh7bc0yqULzIAxg7SU0cBU1uuDS5yXSf9-wRq4fDPhtoQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=305426"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305430,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305426\/revisions\/305430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/305428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=305426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=305426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=305426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}