Editorial
PUD’s power idea might not be such a jolt
Editorials reflect the consensus opinion of the editorial board and are written by its members: Publisher L. Stedem Wood, Editor Don Nelson and City Editor Dick Clever.
The Skagit Public Utility District’s exploratory foray into the electricity service business caught just about everyone by surprise, including the company that now provides power in the county. Expanding its water service mandate to electrical power may be a huge reach for the PUD, but maybe the idea shouldn’t come as such a shocker. The PUD’s proposal hearkens back to the original concept of nonprofit, publicly owned utility systems in Washington being able to provide service at a better price and with a strong local connection. A big business deal forced the question locally. Bellevue-based Puget Sound Energy, which now provides power to Skagit County, is being acquired by Macquarie Consortium, an association of investment groups and pension funds in New York, Canada and Australia. The $7.4 billion deal awaits regulatory review. PSE’s facilities in Skagit County include Upper Baker River Dam, Lower Baker River Dam and the Fredonia natural-gas-fired power plant, in addition to its distribution system. PSE is an investor-owned, for-profit company, but still has to answer to the state’s Utility and Transportation Commission when it sets rates. That would not change no matter who operates the system. Announcement of the PSE deal raised some local fears about the county’s electricity being provided by a distant foreign owner with no knowledge of or ties to the community. Local discussion of an expanded role for the PUD grew out of that concern. The PUD’s initiation of the idea is an eyebrow-raiser, to be sure, but not without logic or merit. The immediate challenge will be to do enough meaningful research to determine how far to take the proposal. That will take time and money. Is it worth the effort? We think so. What’s the risk in fleshing out the options? Before any switch is flipped, the public will be the ultimate arbiter. County voters would ultimately have to approve what would likely be a substantial financial commitment to buy out existing facilities — and then operate them. A vote on whether the PUD should have the authority to provide electricity could come as early as November. That would require a ballot proposal to be submitted by August, which seems like a tight time frame. PUD officials use the word “premature” to describe speculation about whether the PUD will be in the power business any time soon. Gathering a few facts could definitively change that assessment one way or the other.