Avista Applauds Decision Company Gains More Time To Prepare For New Venture

Monday’s decision by California officials to delay full-scale deregulation of electricity markets until March 31 was welcomed by a Washington Water Power Co. subsidiary competing for business in that state.

Avista Energy President Lloyd Meyers said the company had already informed clients its systems would not be ready to deliver power until April 1.

Agency officials charged with opening access to California’s millions of business and residential customers were not providing the necessary computer protocols, he said.

“We couldn’t put our systems together,” Meyers said. “It would have been a real problem for us had they gone ahead.”

California Power Exchange Chief Executive Dennis Loughridge Monday acknowledged that computer problems had forced the delay, which is expected to cost consumers an additional $45 million.

Software packages written for the exchange and the Independent System Operator that will oversee access to California’s power grid are not communicating properly, he said.

The fault, Loughridge added, lays with the specifications given the many vendors who supplied parts of each package, not with the products they delivered.

One of those suppliers is Utility Translation Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Spokane-based Itron Inc. UTS won a $5 million bid for a system that monitors the flow of power into and out of the California system.

Meyers said the communication problems have been clear for months, but officials in charge of the deregulation effort refused to back off the original Jan. 1 implementation date until the last minute.

“We were glad when they made the announcement,” he said. “We kind of felt vindicated.”

Meyers said marketing by Avista and its partner in California, Mock Energy Services, had been frustrated by the confusion surrounding the computer problems.

Potential customers who stand to save thousands of dollars in a deregulated energy market wanted to know why Avista was not ready to deliver power Jan. 1, he said.

“It’s difficult to sell something and then not be able to deliver it,” he said.

Meyers noted that some companies that had been put off by Avista’s caution now say they understand the reasoning behind that approach.

He said he is confident the company and the California authorities will be able to meet the new deadlines.

, DataTimes