Grid West supporters write Congress to counter stro

Grid West supporters write Congress to counter stro ng opposition

Seeking to win congressional support for a controversial plan to create the Grid West transmission operator in the Pacific Northwest, utilities involved in the project sent a barrage of letters to skeptical lawmakers this month hoping to alleviate concerns that the grid operator will not become a full-fledged regional transmission organization.

The letter campaign is a response to the attack on Grid West launched this fall by the Snohomish County, Wash., Public Utility District and six other utilities.

"The letters [demonstrate] that the Northwest is not interested in organizing a regional transmission organization," said Robert Kahn, who signed one letter on behalf of the Northwest Independent Power Producers Coalition.

Grid West organizations include the Bonneville Power Administration and several area investor-owned utilities like PacifiCorp, Avista, Idaho Power, Portland General Electric and Puget Sound Energy. The group, essentially the same who formed the failed RTO West, is trying to reach a delicate balance between heavy opposition to the plan from the municipals and others while at the same time recognizing a need for regional transmission operation.

Members have gone out of their way to say they are not creating an RTO like those endorsed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but the letter campaign may be proof that those efforts are not working.

One letter said, "We urge the Pacific Northwest Congressional delegation to support the completion of the careful process with which Grid West is being designed, and to allow for an objective assessment of the costs and benefits of regionally coordinated transmission in the Northwest resulting from that design.

Grid West, which formed from an RTO West working group called the Regional Representatives Group (RRG), said its proposal was painstakingly forged in late 2003 after concluding that while an RTO may be politically impossible, a regional organization is necessary to address the problems and opportunities the grid currently faces.

The letter also claimed that the Grid West opponents are a "minority of BPA customers who deny or understate the impacts of regional transmission problems." Grid West pointed to a recent study Snohomish released earlier this year on generic RTO costs around the country that the companies claim is misleading. Opponents "have recently sought to cast doubt on the Grid West consensus and process by publicizing a study they commissioned of generic RTO costs."

The controversial Snohomish report, "Study of Costs, Benefits and Alternatives to Grid West," found that the $22 million annual net cost of creating the grid operator outweighs any benefits. The PUD was joined in the report by six other Northwest entities. Snohomish also is trying to line up the Northwest congressional delegation on its side of the battle.

The Snohomish report, written by Henwood Energy Services, claims that if utilities formed Grid West, participants would ultimately pay $200 million and earn $78 million in annual benefits, leaving Grid West with an annual net cost of $122 million.

Meanwhile, Grid West's working group, the Regional Representatives Group, has pushed back until Dec. 9 the date for a vote on the developing grid operator's bylaws and the engagement of an executive search firm to recruit a developmental board. RRG initially was to vote last month and then on Nov. 4, but sources say the votes were postponed to give the Bonneville Power Administration and others time to polish up the bylaws.