United Front Vital In Power Struggle Political Leaders Concerned About Deregulation Pressure

Northwest political leaders agree that a united front is essential to protect the region’s ample and inexpensive hydroelectric power in the face of mounting pressure to deregulate the electric industry.

In Idaho, a state legislative committee on electric utilities deregulation meets Wednesday to discuss the issue and how it may affect Idaho residents.

Some attribute the failure of the West’s power grid this summer to the strain of increased power transmission brought on by deregulation of wholesale power sales.

Legislation introduced in Congress during the last session would have mandated deregulation of all electric utilities, including retail sales. This would allow competitive marketing of power to residential customers, small businesses and irrigators.

It is not certain how deregulation would affect residents of Idaho, which already has some of the lowest electric rates in the country. But some critics fear that deregulation would allow utilities to offer lower rates to large industrial customers - who are among those pushing for deregulation. Operating costs, meanwhile, would be shifted onto the backs of residential and small business customers.

Northwest residents would not be the only people affected.

“The prospect of economic opportunity for some poses unwelcome risks for others,” John D. Dingell, D-Mich., told the New York Athletic Club recently.

Dingell said there was “a real danger that Congress could bring the industry to the brink of crisis if it proceeded recklessly along the path of a rigid philosophy or dogma.”

Some critics say federally mandated deregulation would infringe on state rights, forcing state legislatures to adopt policies they may already have considered and rejected.

“It will be interesting indeed to observe how members who typically honor state prerogatives reconcile themselves to the siren call of federally mandated retail competition,” Dingell said.