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June 2003
Lighting the Cities...
Third in a series on the history of Public Power in the
Northwest
The first municipally-owned
electric power systems were created
to pump drinking water for their citizens and any excess power was made
available for streets and homes. Following the establishment of McMinnville
 Water
and Light in 1889, several municipal utilities were organized in the early
1890s. The largest was Tacoma with a population of 2,000. A private company had
begun serving the city in 1886, but the water wasn’t pure. In 1893, the city
voted by a margin of 110 votes to form its own utility. Seattle followed suit
in 1896 when the city council passed a charter authorizing the city to provide
power for street lights. The city hired a Canadian born electrical engineer,
James Delmage Ross, to help develop its water and power supply. A great
advocate for public power, J.D. Ross would also become the first administrator
of the Bonneville Project decades later.
Seattle City Light began serving its first customers
in 1905 and entered into a rate war with the existing private utility. The
city’s rate was 8.5 cents for the first 20 kilowatt-hours (kWh). To compete,
the private company reduced its rate from 12 to 10 cents for the first 20 kWh.
By 1911, the city was stringing duplicate lines in residential areas and
competing for customers downtown.
Part IV “The Battle for Public Power…
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Meet Your Board
Click
here!
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BPA Wholesale
Rate Increase
The Bonneville Power
Administration (BPA) recently announced another large increase in power costs
to take effect this fall. We realize it is difficult for our members and other
Northwest utility customers to cover these additional costs imposed by BPA. We
believe another large BPA price increase is unnecessary.
BPA says it needs to fund a $900 million deficit
between its forecasted revenues and costs by increasing wholesale power rates
to Northwest utilities by as much as 25%. This rate increase is called the
Safety Net Cost Recovery Adjustment Clause (SN CRAC). According to BPA, this
action is necessary because it has a 50% risk of missing its payment to the
U.S. Treasury.
The SN CRAC is one of three such surcharges that are a
part of most utilities’ power sales contracts with BPA. There are actually four
layers in BPA power rates to utilities like ours:
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A base price for wholesale electricity
of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
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The Load Based CRAC (LB CRAC) covers
BPA’s market purchases for power to serve its utility customers. The LB CRAC
triggered at 46% in 2001, and has been adjusted every six months since then.
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The Financial Based CRAC (FB CRAC)
triggers if BPA’s average accumulated net revenues fall below a certain level.
The FB CRAC triggered at 11% in 2002, the maximum assessable under our
contract, and is expected to run through the remaining
rate period, which is September 30, 2006.
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The issue we’re fighting now is the
Safety Net CRAC, which could increase the base price for power by another 25%.
The actual amount of the increase is not
known at this time.
One thing we do know is that BPA should cut costs and
change its strategies to deal with declining revenues instead of raising rates
again for consumers. The answer to these high electricity costs is in BPA’s
control. BPA must consider all options including the following:
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BPA needs to address financial problems
on a year-by-year basis. BPA could save $400 million by not building up
excessive financial reserves.
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BPA offered some for-profit utilities in
the Northwest “goodwill” money to discourage them from pursuing a lawsuit. We
urge BPA to take all actions necessary to reduce payments to third parties,
including this $200 million bonus to some of the region’s for-profit utilities.
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BPA could cut non-purchased power costs
and payments to related agencies back to 2001 levels in order to save $100
million.
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BPA should treat a portion of its
upcoming bond refinancing as a reserve to deal with financial problems.
Electric co-ops, like Salem Electric, and
other public power utilities are working hard to cut costs and reduce the
burden on our members. It’s only fair that BPA do the same. We will keep you
informed as these events unfold.
—Information provided by
“Power of Community”
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 Your
Electric Meter
We’ve
found, through our monthly meter reading, that there are situations regarding
your meter that may be unsafe for you and make it inconvenient for us to read
your meter.
Please inspect your meter and meter base to make sure that none of the
following situations exist:
The area around the meter
should be clear and accessible to allow meter readers to have
an unobstructed view and workers to have easy access. Please follow these tips
to allow us to better serve you.
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AARP Driver's Safety Program
The American Association of
Retired Persons (AARP) Driver’s Safety Program is a two-day, eight-hour course
(4 hours each day) of classroom instruction that refines existing driving
skills and develops safe, defensive driving techniques for persons 55 and
older. The AARP program provides trained volunteer instructors.
Three courses will be held at Salem Electric, 633
Seventh Street NW. The two-day courses will be as follows, with registrations
being accepted starting Wednesday, August 6, 2003.
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DATE - COURSE #1
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DAY
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TIME
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October 1
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Wednesday
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8:30 am–12:30 pm
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October 2
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Thursday
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8:30 am–12:30 pm
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DATE - COURSE #1
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DAY
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TIME
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October 8
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Wednesday
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8:30 am–12:30 pm
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October 9
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Thursday
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8:30 am–12:30 pm
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DATE - COURSE #1
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DAY
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TIME
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October 22
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Wednesday
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8:30 am–12:30 pm
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October 23
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Thursday
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8:30 am–12:30 pm
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The
cost is $10 per person, which will be collected on the last day of each course.
For registration and information, call Helen Findley or Debbie Addison at Salem
Electric starting Wednesday August 6, at
503 362-3601. Participants are requested to park along the
street, leaving Salem Electric’s visitor, customer, and employee parking
available for normal business use. Participants should enter through the board
room (gate) to the right of the main entrance in front of the building.
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Energy
Star Winners
These
four customers’ names were randomly drawn from over 1,600 participants in the
Residential Conservation Incentive Program. Each calendar quarter two customers
win a $500 credit for a 10% reduction in energy usage and two win a $1,000
credit for a 20% reduction toward the purchase of qualifying
ENERGY STAR rated appliances. Here’s an opportunity
to see how you can save around your home. Contact our office to sign up.
Jane and Allen
23% Savings–$1,000 Winner
“I can still hear my Dad telling me to turn off the lights and shut the door.”
• Turned down the heat at night
• Installed new energy-efficient windows
• Filled the dishwasher before running it
 Roger
and Claudia
36% Savings–$1,000 Winner
“We looked for the ENERGY STAR logo
on all our appliances.”
• Weatherized their home through the Salem Electric program
• Installed a new heat pump through the Salem Electric program
• Installed a new programmable thermostat
Gerald and Joann (not
pictured)
13% Savings–$500 Winner
“We burn a lot of candles instead of electric lights.”
• Used a timer on the hot tub
• Turned the heat down a few degrees
• Purchased a new ENERGY STAR rated
front-loading washing machine
Irish, Mike and Mary
10% Savings–$500 Winner
“We turn off the lights when we don’t need them.”
• Purchased a new energy-efficient washing machine
• Installed a new energy-efficient water heater
• Took advantage of the sun to heat the house
If you want
to sign up for this voluntary program,
contact our office and we’ll send you a sign-up form.
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Bulletin Index |
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