rp_0109_1.html
Crisis Eases, Conservation Remains a Priority
Energy conservation and curtailment remain priorities for utilities and their customers despite the recent drop in wholesale power prices and news reports that the energy crisis is all but over.
West Coast utility programs that offer customer credits for reduced energy consumption continue to enjoy high participation rates. According to Southern California Edison , 35 percent of the company's residential customers have cut their power use by one-fifth while Pacific Gas and Electric reports 38 percent of its customers have reached the 20 percent threshold. Analysts credit cooler temperatures, higher power rates and a slowing economy.
Seattle City Light , which doesn't offer curtailment credits, reports no drop off in customer efforts to reduce energy consumption. Utility spokesman Dan Williams notes that while the energy crisis has eased, energy crisis rates remain in effect. Rate hikes instituted when market prices jumped to record levels will continue until utilities have recovered from the huge bills they racked up during the prolonged period of sustained high wholesale prices.
Conservation advocates, although heartened by curtailment efforts, wonder how long those efforts will last and whether they will give way to sustained investments in energy efficiency. At least for now, utility investments in energy efficiency are enjoying a modest rebound from the dramatic drop off in the mid 90s and Northwest Power Planning Council (NWPPC ) staff last month proposed setting a goal for increased regionwide conservation achievement.
NWPPC staff, based on the agency's conservative 1996 conservation assessment, recommended the Council adopt a plan calling for 90 average megawatts (aMWs) of cost-effective energy efficiency per year for the years 2001 through 2005. "The council is interested in how we can maintain a commitment to conservation after the power crisis fades," said Dick Watson , power planning director for NWPPC. "(Curtailment) isn't sustainable, and we shouldn't want to sustain it. The focus should be on using energy more efficiently."
The annual 90 aMW target, if achieved, would free up enough electricity to power approximately 65,000 homes and more than double the achievement levels of each of the last three years (just over 40 aMWs). But the target still falls short of peak years like 1993 when the Northwest captured almost 140 aMWs of cost-effective conservation. Significantly, about two-thirds of the recommended annual target would cost less than two cents per kilowatthour (kWh) saved. Most of the remaining third is projected to cost between two and three cents per kWh. Council staff used a cost-effectiveness ceiling of 5 cents/kWh in making the recommendation.
The NWPPC staff plan also identifies potential savings and assigns corresponding shares to the Northwest's major energy providers. Under the plan, more than 90 percent of the potential would be met through combined efforts of the region's six investor-owned utilities, the three major Puget Sound consumer-owned utilities, and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA ).
Seattle City Light and Emerald PUD will likely exceed and BPA at least meet its share as assigned under the NWPPC staff target. Although not yet official, Snohomish PUD board members and staff are discussing plans for a significant increase for up to three years. Investments by Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp (in its Oregon service territory) will get a sustained boost when Oregon's utility restructuring law goes into effect. And Avista Utilities last spring upped its minimum commitment to conservation from 1.52 percent to 1.95 percent of the company's retail revenues.
Puget Sound Energy plans no increase in its programs which last year yielded about half of its assigned share. The Montana Power Company will sustain its modest statewide investments until at least 2006. The Idaho Power Company meanwhile, thanks to the leadership of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (IPUC ), is emerging from a near-dormant state regarding energy efficiency. Idaho Power is proposing to establish minimum investments of 0.5 percent of retail revenues in response to an IPUC request to develop a new conservation program and the company will be pushed hard to increase that commitment.
The Land and Water Fund of the Rockies is intervening on behalf of a coalition of groups to push the utility to invest at least 1.5 percent of revenues and ramp up to 3 percent over the next three years. And Idaho Power, after implementing its largest rate increase ever, will be pressured to do more to help its customers enhance efficiency. The Idaho Statesman recently reported that Idahoans have the highest per capita energy use of any state in the nation.
Although no formal assessment exists, it is virtually certain the region will see a substantial boost in conservation achievement in 2001 compared to the three previous years. And if recently adopted utility and BPA programs are sustained, the modest five-year 90 aMW per year goal should be well within reach or exceeded in subsequent years. "Sustaining those new programs is the key," points out Watson.
Mark Glyde