New Wwp Subsidiary Cleared To Market Power Company Gearing Up To Begin Operations By End Of The Year
A new Washington Water Power Co. subsidiary received permission from federal authorities on Wednesday to buy and sell electricity anywhere in the United States.
WWP Resource Services Inc. a name change is in the works - will be in business by the end of the year, said Alan Meyers, who is acting as temporary vice president.
He said the subsidiary will not be based in Spokane. Placement of the headquarters will depend on the needs of whomever is hired to run the company, he said.
The results of a search for a chief executive are expected in about two weeks, Meyers said.
He said a location in the Southeast is likely because the energy market there is among the most active in the country.
WWP Resource Services Inc. will be a power marketer able to buy electricity or natural gas for resale to utilities, as opposed to a broker that just matches buyers with sellers.
Meyers said WWP already acts as a marketer in the West, where sales have lifted the company to fourth largest among all electricity wholesalers nationally.
In the second quarter of this year, he noted, WWP sold 2.6 million megawatt-hours of power at wholesale, far exceeding the 1.6 million megawatt-hours sold at retail to customers in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
Wholesale activity probably will exceed retail sales for the whole of 1996, he said.
Meyers said utility officials hope to couple expertise gained in the West with the specialized knowledge of markets and transmission grids in other areas that a new management team will bring to WWP Resource Services Inc.
In a separate development, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission delayed action for two weeks on a contract calling for WWP to supply 20 megawatts of electricity to the Tosco Refining Co. in Whatcom County.
Policy analyst Dick Byers said the contract will be split into two documents, one covering power supply, the other transportation, because the Bonneville Power Administration has balked at providing the necessary transmission connection.
, DataTimes