Panel develops electricity shortage warning system

The Northwest now has an early-warning system for potential electricity shortages and high consumer prices.

“It’s like a smoke alarm for the regional electricity supply,” said Bill Booth, chairman of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, which adopted the early-warning system this week.

According to Booth, the system will provide alerts about conditions that could lead to a reduced supply of electricity and resulting high prices. Booth, a Hayden Lake resident, represents Idaho on the four-state council.

The system will track demand for future power, compared to construction of new power plants and energy conservation programs. It will also track electricity price volatility.

The system was developed in response to the electricity crisis of 2000 and 2001, when drought reduced hydropower generation and demand for power overwhelmed the supply. As a result, electricity prices soared and the Northwest came close to a blackout.

The Pacific Northwest Resource Adequacy Forum, a committee of electricity suppliers and regulators created by the Power Council and the Bonneville Power Administration, developed the system.

From staff reports

Washington

Housing downturn continues; new home sales plunging

Sales of new homes plunged in March to the slowest pace in 16 1/2 years as a two-year housing downturn extended into the start of another spring sales season. The median price of a new home in March compared to a year ago fell at the fastest clip in 38 years.

Sales of new homes dropped by 8.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units, the slowest sales pace since October 1991, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The median price of a home sold in March dropped by 13.3 percent compared with March 2007, the biggest year-over-year price decline since a 14.6 percent plunge in July 1970.

The dismal news on new home sales followed earlier reports showing sales of existing homes fell by 2 percent in March. Housing, which boomed for five years, has been in a prolonged slump for the past two years with sales and home prices falling at especially sharp rates in formerly boom areas of the country.

Associated Press

Columbus, Ohio

Arby’s corporate owner buys Wendy’s hamburger chain

After at least two rejections, billionaire Nelson Peltz has finally succeeded in landing Wendy’s in a $2.3 billion deal that would add the chain known for its square burger and chocolate Frosty dessert to his ownership of Arby’s and its roast beef sandwiches.

Now, the investor known for agitating corporations to boost their stock price has to figure out how to make both profitable while the economy slumps and more Americans are saving money on food and fuel by staying home to eat.

Atlanta-based Triarc Companies Inc., owned by Peltz, said Thursday it will pay about $2.34 billion in an all-stock deal for the nation’s third-largest hamburger chain, started in 1969 by Dave Thomas. Wendy’s had rejected at least two buyout offers from Triarc.

Thomas’ daughter Pam Thomas Farber said the family was devastated by the news.

“It’s a very sad day for Wendy’s and our family. We just didn’t think this would be the outcome,” said Farber, 53.

If her father were alive to hear news of the buyout, “he would not be amused,” she said.

Wendy’s operates about 6,600 restaurants in the U.S. and abroad.

Associated Press