Wwp Forges Alliance With Cascade Natural Gas

Washington Water Power Co. and Cascade Natural Gas Corp., two of the four largest natural gas suppliers in Washington and Oregon, may share some services under an alliance announced Wednesday.

Combining transportation capacity, storage, and information systems, as well as other resources, would allow both utilities to improve efficiency and cut costs, said WWP Senior Vice President Gary Ely.

Patricia Grable, WWP administrator for resource optimization, noted the companies have worked together before on some of these issues.

For example, WWP has allowed Cascade to use the gas storage facility it owns in part in Western Washington, she said.

Grable said the companies will likely start their partnership by consolidating the gas supply contracts they put out for bid, with the expectation that a bigger buy will attract more suppliers.

Although there are no immediate plans to expand either system, she said, marketing could be an area the utilities explore as their relationship evolves.

Cascade serves more than 165,000 customers in Oregon and Washington.

WWP’s 250,000 gas customers live in North Idaho, Eastern Washington, southwestern Oregon and the Lake Tahoe area of California.

Revenues, which include results from subsidiaries and its electricity operations, reached $1.3 billion last year.

Grable noted that between them WWP and Cascade serve every metropolitan area in Washington and Oregon except Seattle and Portland.

, DataTimes