Rep. Crouse To Oppose Deregulation Utility Measures Stymied?

Deregulation of the electric utility industry will have a powerful foe in Rep. Larry Crouse in the upcoming session of the Washington Legislature.

The Spokane Valley Republican, who chairs the House Energy and Utilities Committee, said Monday he has shelved plans to introduce his own deregulation bill, and won’t hold hearings on any others that originate in the lower chamber.

Crouse said he may consider hearing a Senate bill if one passes.

“We’re not ready,” said Crouse, who helped squelch efforts to negotiate compromise legislation this year.

Months of additional talks that have included representatives from all sides have not convinced him a system that delivers some of the cheapest power in the country needs changing, he said.

“I do not feel comfortable that we are far enough along,” Crouse said.

He added that another year of deliberating will allow officials to monitor developments in Washington, D.C., where Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., is among those who have drafted deregulatory legislation, and in California, which opens its markets to full-scale competition Jan. 1.

Deregulation would allow all residential and business customers to buy power from anyone they choose. Several states already al low competition; others are holding off.

Crouse said he will submit a bill that would require all utilities in the state, public and private, to break down the costs of generating, transmitting and distributing power.

That information, which would be submitted to state authorities next fall, should point out at least some of the technical difficulties deregulation could cause utilities, he said.

Crouse does not want to discourage utilities from launching trial programs that would give managers and customers a further sense of how deregulation would work.

Tom Paine, Washington Water Power Co. director for governmental affairs, said he was disappointed by Crouse’s decision.

The Spokane utility has been working to form a coalition behind a so-called “portfolio plan” that would give customers the choice of staying with their current power supplier at regulated rates or buying market-priced power that could go up or down on a monthly or yearly basis.

“Green power” from wind or other sources also would be an option.

Last week, WWP submitted proposals for trial portfolio programs to Washington and Idaho regulators.

Paine said a legislative version might be submitted in the Washington Senate by William Finkbeiner, chairman of the Senate Energy and Utilities Committee.

Some opposition, he said, has arisen in state labor circles. Unions have indicated they will make deregulation a partisan issue in next year’s elections, he said.

If a bill cannot attract support from Republicans and Democrats, Paine said, it may be best if the issue is set aside for another year.

Karen Keiser, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said the organization wants to be sure deregulation benefits all state residents.

The council has not taken a position on any bill, she said.

Affiliates represent employees of companies who buy and sell power, Keiser said, so the decisions its members must make reflect those facing the state as a whole.

, DataTimes