Wppss Board Tired Of Name Being A Joke They’ll Drop Money Altering It, But Won’t Say ‘Whoops’

After four decades with one of the most-derided names in the utility business, the Washington Public Power Supply System will seek a new moniker.

Board members of WPPSS, often pronounced “whoops,” on Friday listened to a consultant recommend that the name be dropped because it carries too much baggage.

That includes the memories of a failed nuclear power plant construction program that ended in the largest municipal bond default up to that time.

“It’s hurting your business opportunities, because you’re called WPPSS. It’s a bad name,” said Seattle consultant Anne Fennessy.

“If everyone said ‘Washington Public Power Supply System’ all the time, we wouldn’t be here recommending a name change,” she said.

Board members agreed WPPSS must go.

The WPPSS executive board will formally vote to drop the name in January or February - assuming the switch won’t cost too much, chairman Louis Winnard said.

No one has given much thought to a new name.

The utility has budgeted $75,000 for consultants’ recommendations on how to select a new name, said Mary Ace, a WPPSS spokeswoman.

No one has a firm grasp on how much the switch would cost.

Ron Webring, a WPPSS vice president, suggested $300,000 might be spent over several years, but cautioned that was a guess.

Ironically, many Northwest residents have forgotten why people started to call WPPSS “whoops.”

In a survey of 1,000 homes in Washington and the Portland area, 47 percent said they didn’t know what WPPSS was, Fennessy said.

It’s been 15 years since the default on bonds for two nuclear plants and the end of work on two others. The utility completed only one reactor, which continues to generate power near Richland.

WPPSS began as a small endeavor 40 years ago when several public utility districts banded together to build generating stations.

The Packwood Lake hydroelectric plant in the shadow of Mount Rainier was the consortium’s first project - and it’s still operating, generating about 3 percent of the output of the WPPSS nuclear plant.

WPPSS officials have said they want to venture into other energy businesses. They’ve already licensed a site for a natural gas-fired turbine at WPPSS’ old Satsop nuclear park west of Olympia.

“We have a marvelous opportunity for new business. For this, we need a name change,” said executive board member Don Carter.