SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - California's attorney general sued Enron on Thursday, accusing it manipulating the market during the state's 2000-01 energy crisis and costing Californians perhaps billions of dollars.

The lawsuit, filed in state court, contends Enron employed a variety of fraudulent schemes between 1998 and 2001 to artificially boost electricity prices and the company's profits.

Among other things, Enron was accused of deliberately causing congestion along power transmission lines, then reaping extra revenue for taking action to relieve the congestion.

"While the state reeled from the combined impact of sky-high power prices, supply shortages and rolling blackouts, the Enron defendants enjoyed massive, unprecedented profits and extracted millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains from utilities and their customers through a variety of fraudulent schemes," according to the complaint.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the evidence is "very compelling that California ratepayers should be entitled to well in excess of a billion dollars - probably closer to $2 billion - in profits that Enron took that were illegal."

Three former traders at the Houston energy giant have been charged with fraud involving price manipulation in California. Two of them have pleaded guilty and a third is awaiting trial.

A message left with an Enron spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

The lawsuit cites excerpts from recently released transcripts of Enron traders' phone calls during the energy crisis in which they gloated about manipulating California's power market and boasted of ripping off "Grandma Millie."

"Grandma Millie is California," Lockyer said. "I am her lawyer and she seeks justice."

Each violation of the state's unfair-competition law is punishable by a fine of up to $2,500, while breaches of the state's commodities law can be punishable by up to $25,000 per incident.

Enron filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001 in an accounting fraud scandal.