CALIFORNIA — Williams Companies, one of the nation’s biggest suppliers of electricity and natural gas, agreed yesterday to pay more than $400 million to settle accusations that it helped drive up prices and overcharged customers during the California’s electric power crisis. As part of the settlement California said it would not seek customer refunds.

Williams also agreed to restructure a 10-year, $4.3 billion power contract it signed with California when power prices were soaring. The settlement is considered an important victory for California state officials, who have insisted that some energy companies manipulated prices and the state’s complex power system in 2000 and 2001, creating widespread shortages and causing electricity prices to soar.

(via New York Times)