Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Electoral College 2000 - Ahead of the Curve -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Oral Roberts who wrote (6274)	12/14/2000 5:28:24 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 6710

That's right!~"very few new power plants have been built.." here's an article that tells about the increased cost, and what most probably will be the story for everyone in the country unless we have some sort of leadership in the Dept of Energy..... archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com Local News : Thursday, December 14, 2000 Snohomish County PUD rates are going up by Seattle Times staff and The Associated Press EVERETT - The Snohomish County Public Utility District yesterday approved the second highest increase in its residential and commercial rates in the utility's 51-year history. The increase will take effect Jan. 1. The PUD's increase came on the same day Gov. Gary Locke joined the chorus of politicians and utilities asking federal energy regulators to put a cap on skyrocketing costs for electricity. The average PUD residential customer will see his monthly bill increase by about 33 percent, or about $22, according to the PUD. Currently, the average PUD residential bill is $63 per month, said PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos. For commercial customers, the increase will be even larger, about 38 percent. That means the average monthly commercial rate of $5,591 will increase by $2,294. In 1980 the PUD enacted a 39-percent rate increase, Neroutsos said. The PUD has about 260,000 customers in Snohomish County and Camano Island. The increase is due to rising energy prices, which have hit energy providers throughout the West. Although the PUD buys only a small portion of its power on the market, where prices are skyrocketing, this month has seen the utility increase such purchases because of colder weather. In addition, with area river flows reduced because of the dry November, the amount of energy the PUD can produce at its Jackson Hydroelectric Plant east of Everett has also been decreased. Neroutsos said the PUD has been able to delay increasing its rates because it was using a rate-stabilization fund to help offset rising costs. Meanwhile, Locke, in conjunction with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, yesterday asked President Clinton and federal regulators to immediately cap wholesale power rates consistently throughout the western United States. "I also request that you take whatever action is available to you to require full and ongoing operation of all available power plants in the region throughout the winter," Locke said in his letter to Clinton, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and James Hoecker, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. Utilities throughout the West are struggling to pay the bills as the cost of electricity at the wholesale level has soared. A megawatt-hour that sold for about $35 a year ago was selling for some $3,000 a few days ago, utility officials said. California and Washington are part of the same western power grid. But a combination of factors has threatened power supplies in some areas and sent prices into the stratosphere: low reservoirs in the Northwest due to a dry fall, California's deregulation of the electricity industry, cold weather, a proliferation of high-voltage Internet companies, the shutdown of some power plants for maintenance and a lack of new power plants. Locke, in his letter, attributed much of the blame to California's move to an unregulated electricity market, which he called a "flawed restructuring experiment" that requires federal action "to restore stability and rationality to the market." Some Washington consumers, like those in Snohomish County, are feeling the impact more than others. And Tacoma Power, a public utility like the Snohomish PUD, has proposed charging its residential customers an unprecedented 86 percent surcharge to cover the unexpected costs. So far, Puget Sound Energy's electric customers have been insulated from the market troubles. Unlike public utility districts, Puget is operating under a five-year rate plan set by the state utilities commission.