Why did wholesale prices spike in the first place, hmmm? I would guess there is a bidding market at work, and as the capacity of available power declined (scarcity of supply) and demand remained constant, some automated program bid up the price to these exorbitant levels. There are always scavengers (middlemen)... Do you think "Griddy" isn't taking a fixed cut of the proceeds? I'm sure "Griddy" ran test cases for when there are power failures, didn't they? Actually, a well designed system would not have these cost spikes, as you would be using futures to buy power capacity ahead of time (but that leaves someone else to pay). When you turn everything into a financial market, there will always be those simply in there to speculate and turn a quick profit. What a crap name, "Griddy", for an electrical power company.