NRG POWER MARKETING, LLC, ET AL., Petitioners, v ... - ISDA

3of loan facilities, and underwriters of debt and equitysecurities.Members of ISDA and FIEG are substantial participantsin the market for wholesale electric power.Some members own interests in companies that produceelectric power and sell it in the wholesale market.Some members own interests in retail distributioncompanies that purchase power in the wholesalemarket and distribute it to end users. Predominantly,however, members of these amici, like MorganStanley, operate as power marketers in thewholesale market; they contract with power producers,distribution companies, and other power marketersto buy or sell wholesale power that will ultimatelybe produced, resold, or distributed by others.Power marketers like Morgan Stanley and themembers of ISDA and FIEG play an extremely importantrole in wholesale power markets. Their expertiseand extensive trading operations allow themto mitigate the financial risks that power manufacturersor distributors would otherwise have to incurin producing or distributing power. By assembling adiverse portfolio of contractual obligations to buyand sell power at different times and differentprices, power marketers can insulate themselvesfrom many of the risks of temporary price volatility,which are inherent in the energy market, as well aslonger term unfavorable price trends. By contractingwith producers and distributors of power, thesemarketers also allow producers and distributors toavoid those risks.Unlike power producers, which generally participatein the energy market as sellers, and distribu-