Wwp Pulls Out Of Transmission Venture

Washington Water Power Co. will keep its wires to itself, thank you.

The Spokane utility will not join other Northwest utilities next spring when they ask federal regulators to approve formation of a new organization that would control the region’s transmission systems.

WWP officials two weeks ago told backers the company was no longer interested.

“Participation would not be in the best interests of our customers,” said Jeff Schlect, contract agent for WWP.

An independent grid operator, or “indego,” might trim as much as $12 million from the cost of generating electricity in the region, he said. But formation and operation of the agency could cost $40 million.

The chairman of the group preparing the filing for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission disagrees.

Identifying costs is easy, said Bill Pascoe, who is also an assistant vice president with Montana Power Co.

Savings, like those from more competition, are harder to add up, he said.

Pascoe hopes WWP will reconsider its decision as the economics of a new system are refined.

WWP owns about 550 miles of transmission wire. Less than one-fifth the megawatts that move on the system in an average day are headed for customers outside the utility’s own service territory.

Schlect said he does not expect WWP, one of seven utilities that first started discussing an indego in July 1996, will suffer for its decision to forego the FERC filing.

Pascoe said he does not know if any other utilities will follow WWP. Indego backers want to go to FERC with a significant number of utilities in support of the filing, he said, but what constitutes that “critical mass” remains unclear.

“We’ll know it when we see it,” he said.

, DataTimes