Natural gas hedge went bad, investor was fired, and homeowners now pay huge electric bills. EL CENTRO, Calif. -- From his office in a strip mall in the Southern California desert, energy trader Bill Rapp bet heavily that Hurricane Katrina would cause natural gas prices to go up and up and up. He got it wrong – spectacularly wrong. The gamble has led to tens of millions of dollars in losses at the utility he worked for, the Imperial Irrigation District, and resulted in higher electric bills for its 140,000 customers in this region of triple-digit temperatures and double-digit unemployment. As for Rapp, he lost his job and went from potential hero to goat. “We're having to pay for someone's bad decisions, for someone's mistakes,” said Donna Freeman, 60, who pays $300 a month to cool her small home. Rapp vehemently rejects his...
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