Public Hearing On Wwp Set Utility Regulators Schedule Feb. 13 To Ask Questions About Ice Storm
State utility regulators scheduled a public hearing on Washington Water Power Co.’s handling of the November ice storm, the region’s worst natural disaster in decades.
The hearing will be Feb. 13 at Gonzaga Law School. The time hasn’t been set, but it’s likely to be in the late afternoon and early evening to make it easier for people to attend.
“We’ll be asking lots of questions,” said Marilyn Meehan of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.
The agency’s three commissioners will ask WWP officials about their response to the powerful Nov. 19 storm that sheathed the region in ice and left many residents shivering for days in darkened homes.
The company has called the ice storm the worst disaster in its 107-year history.
It’s standard practice for the WUTC to hold public hearings in the wake of major storm-related power outages.
In late December, WUTC commissioners and staff sat down to discuss what they want to know about WWP’s handling of the emergency, Meehan said.
The commission will be asking:
Why it took so long to restore power to 100,000 homes and businesses.
Whether WWP will revise its emergency response plan.
Whether the utility plans to increase its staff of permanent line crews, or revise protocols for bringing in crews from other areas.
How much money the company is spending on tree trimming.
How effectively WWP’s customer call center handled the dramatic surge in telephone calls during the storm, and whether the company plans to enhance its communication system.
What the utility’s priorities are for restoring power to businesses and homes - and how those priorities are determined.
What the cost is of burying more lines, and whether WWP plans to do this.
How the company handled customer complaints about its estimated billings after the storm, when many meters were still inaccessible due to snow and ice.
How the company decided not to pass on the estimated $10 million to $15 million cost of the storm to its ratepayers.
Instead, WWP’s stockholders are absorbing the costs. which add up to a 10 percent hit on WWP’s 1996 earnings.
WWP officials said last month they were launching a six-week internal review of how they handled the crisis.
That review will be finished this month and a preliminary report filed with the WUTC before the Feb. 13 hearing, said WWP spokesman Rob Strenge.
The questions the WUTC are interested in “are issues we’re already working on,” Strenge said Thursday. Much of the WUTC hearing will be devoted to public testimony, Meehan said.
“People can testify in Spokane, or they can write to us in Olympia. We are interested in their suggestions on how WWP could have handled things better,” she said.
About three dozen WWP customers have lodged ice storm-related complaints with the commission, Meehan said Thursday.
The WUTC’s e-mail address is: comments@wutc.wa.gov.
The regular mail address is: Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, P.O. Box 47250, Olympia, WA 98504-7250.
, DataTimes