No, he is correct. It was a setup that provided huge incentives to artificially limit/withdraw supply, reaping huge profits in the process. The biggest price effects were on natural gas, which affected both gas consumers and electric consumers (since much of electric supply is from gas-burning plants... including within Silicon Valley proper). There's one by my gym near San Tomas and 101, for example.
I had a gas bill of well over $350 one month for just water heating and furnace... and my thermostat was never over 62F, and on only 10 hours a day. (For local climate perspective, this is with an average overnight temperature never below freezing... it's not like the furnace was fighting blizzards.)
Preventing utilities from hedging... how could that ever work?