August 13, 2001—Three Western utilities—Portland General Electric in Oregon, Puget Sound Energy in Washington, and Sierra Pacific Resources in Nevada—have joined together to protest recent actions by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to create price controls on wholesale power sales in the West.
FERC orders issued June 19 and July 25 attempt to stabilize the Western energy marketplace. This coalition of utilities has concluded, however, that FERC’s actions will have unintended harmful consequences for Western utilities and consumers. Left unchanged, the coalition asserts, FERC’s order may create higher prices for some utilities’ retail customers and could result in power supply shortages in many areas of the West.
The coalition believes FERC can minimize negative effects if it takes several corrective measures, including:
- base a price mitigation plan on prices in all affected states, not just California;
- allow all market sellers to justify their bids based on their costs;
- exempt demand-reduction programs from the price mitigation cap; and
- provide transmission costs and losses on top of the capped price for out-of-state sellers.
For more information, contact Portland General Electric at 503/464-7342 or 503/464-7695.
