Energy initiative hits utilities
I-937 would require companies to invest in conservation projects
Voters have a voice in the state's energy future when they cast their ballots in the Nov. 7 general election.
Initiative 937 would require the state's 17 largest utilities to invest in all cost-effective energy-conservation projects at their disposal and obtain 15 percent of their electricity from new renewable energy resources, including wind and solar, by 2020.
Supporters insist the goals can be achieved without taking a big bite out of ratepayer pocketbooks, while building on a regional legacy of clean hydropower and energy independence.
"We have a choice of charting a path toward a cleaner energy future," said initiative backer K.C. Golden, a former state energy policy director and policy director for Climate Solutions.
Critics fear passage would drive up energy customers' costs from $185 million to $370 million a year and create an artificial economy around new energy resources.
"We're not opposed to renewable resources," said Michael Early, executive director of the Industrial Customers of Northwest Utilities, a Portland-based trade association. "But mandates tend to increase costs."
Initiative supporters said the measure would save energy and money through conservation that is cheaper than building new power plants and through investments in renewables that already are or soon will be cheaper than conventional coal, gas and nuclear power plants.
In its review of the initiative's fiscal impact, the state Office of Financial Management said there are too many variables that go into electric utility costs and revenues to answer the ratepayer questions conclusively.
The measure does cap costs by saying a utility need not spend more than 4 percent of its annual retail revenue on renewable resources.
The Yes on I-937 campaign qualified for the ballot by gathering 337,804 signatures in support of the citizens measure after the state Legislature failed seven years in a row to pass comparable legislation.
Backers, who have amassed nearly $1 million to support the campaign, include the American Lung Association, League of Women Voters, Washington chapter of Republicans for Environmental Protection, and Washington State Labor Council.
The No on I-937 group has received contributions of about $82,000, according to the last state Public Disclosure Commission report. Opponents include the Association of Washington Business, the Western Pulp and Paper Workers Association, and the Columbia Snake River Irrigators Association.
Puget Sound Energy, which serves Thurston County electric customers, has been investing in wind power projects of late and expects about 5 percent of its energy supply will be green power by the end of the year. The corporate goal is 10 percent environmentally friendly energy resources by 2010.
The state's largest utility estimates that power from its two wind farms will cost about $170 million less in the next 20 years than from the next-cheapest source.
The initiative, if it passes, applies to utilities with 25,000 or more customers.
So, Shelton-based Mason County Public Utility District No. 3, with 31,000 customers, also would have to meet the requirements, if it passes. Currently the utility gets 1 percent or less of its power supply from wind power, utility spokesman Joel Myer said.
Neither utility serving South Sound has taken a position on the initiative, although the Washington Public Utility Districts Association supports it.
Statewide, renewable energy resources account for about 2 percent of the energy supply, initiative backers say.
"Wind is the resource that has cracked the barrier," Golden said. "It's the lowest-cost new energy source."
Continue reading this story from The Olympian:
Energy initiative hits utilities
Please note that comments are not posted until approved by our site administrator, in order to prevent comment spam. We do not censor comments but ask that you do add value to the discussion and be respectful.
#23948 - Steve Zemke
As Washingtonians and Americans we need to become self sufficient. That means becoming energy independent and not being held captive to out of state or foreign sources of energy like oil.
If you factor in the cost in human lives and billions of dollars spent on the Iraq war, windmills and solar energy resources that would be built under I-937 are a bargain.
Who really thinks we would be in Iraq exept that we are dependent on oil for much of America's power useage? Right now our dollars are funding both sides of this war.
Let's spend our dollars right here in Washington State. Vote Yes on I-933 on Nov 7th 2006.