Council Seeks Low Electricity Rates Panel Will Work With Committees Studying Deregulation Policies

Gov. Phil Batt has formed a new council with the long-range goal of preserving Idaho’s low electricity rates even though the electric utility industry is restructuring.

Former Sen. James McClure will head the council, which will supervise the work of four citizen committees looking at specific areas. The council will issue a written report to the governor.

McClure, who retired from the U.S. Senate in 1991, will be paid $2,000 per month. He works as a congressional lobbyist for some of the state’s largest energy users.

Batt signed an executive order on Wednesday creating the new Governor’s Council on Hydroelectric and River Resources.

It apparently will cover some of the same ground as a legislative committee on deregulation of the electric utility industry. That committee, headed by Sen. John Hansen, R-Idaho Falls, and Rep. Ron Crane, R-Caldwell, has been meeting for months and will report to the Legislature on deregulation issues.

Batt gave his new council three assignments:

Establish guidelines and goals for successful deregulation of the electric industry.

Recommend principles to govern power deregulation, river operations and hydroelectric facility relicensing. Those principles are to protect water rights, fish and wildlife habitat and recreation.

Solicit ideas from political leaders, state agencies, utilities, consumers, environmental groups, water users, public interest organization, rate payers and the public.

The council will be made up of the four committee chairmen and representatives of the attorney general, Public Utilities Commission, Fish and Game director and Water Resources director, with McClure as chairman.