Legislative task force in Utah compiles power plant recommendations
Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah --Aug. 5--SALT LAKE CITY
With Utah's population surging, new power plants are in demand.
"This is where the growth is occurring in our system and where we need
to invest," said Senior Vice President Don Furman.
But what kind of plants will be built? Those that burn coal, harness wind or
water or those that use some other method to produce energy?
And, if the capital costs are passed along to the rate payers, shouldn't they
have a say in everything from design to location to contractor?
If so, how big a role should the Legislature play in the construction of the
new plants?
Those are the questions being weighed by a legislative task force that met
Wednesday for the fourth time.
The group is expected to pass along its recommendations to the Legislature.
The options are to take no action -- the 2003 task force's verdict -- to
charge the Public Service Commission to take action, or to enact specific rules
for Utah Power and its competitors to follow.
Utah Power produces 8,400 megawatts at its plants scattered across six
western states. But it expects to need an additional 4,000 megawatts over the
next two decades, as Utah's population grows by a million.
The task force would like to settle on its recommendations soon.
"We have at least one more month before we try to make a decision,"
said Sen. Leonard Blackham, R-Moroni, the task force chairman.
State laws aimed at power-plant construction have not changed much in 80
years, said Richard Campbell, chairman of the three-person Public Service
Commission, which oversees the state's utilities.
Yet the energy industry has changed immensely, he said.
"It would be helpful if we had a broad policy in place in regard to the
competitive bidding process," Campbell said. "We'd be more than happy
to fill in the details and do the leg work. The goal is to have a process that's
accepted and transparent, providing ratepayers with the lowest costs."
Tinkering with the policy is a good idea; overhauling it is not, said Sen.
Mike Dmitrich, R-Price.
"I don't think the system is broken or Utah would not be the lowest-cost
provider that it is," he said. "We need to improve the system we have,
but I don't think the Legislature should be the policy-making body in this
case."
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