Published: Monday, June 21, 2004

Enron outrage championed
Former PUD official urges campaign to force action

By Lukas Velush
Herald Writer

These days, Roger Rice has just one question on his mind: Where's the outrage?

Rice wonders why Snohomish County residents who may be forced to pay Enron $122 million aren't more angry despite proof that the PUD's contract with the bankrupt energy trader was illegal.

Rice is a former Snohomish County PUD commissioner who believes utility customers should be more upset that, through antics of utilities such as Enron Corp. of Houston, they now have among the highest electricity rates in the state, rates that have more than doubled since he left office in 1986.

"We've been cheated," said Rice, who served on the PUD board for 12 years. "Where are the activists for lower electricity rates in Snohomish County?"

Rice wants to launch a letter-writing campaign directed at President Bush, Washington's congressional delegation and at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that is responsible for scrutinizing energy traders including Enron.

"We need some enthusiasm.," said Rice, an 82-year-old retired dentist who lives in Mill Creek. "It's the squeaky wheel that gets the attention."

PUD officials said sending a few thousand letters to President Bush and other decision makers could help sway the federal government into invalidating the utility's contract with Enron. Bush appointed all four of FERC's commissioners.

If not, then the PUD may have to pay Enron $122 million, the amount the bankrupt energy trader says the PUD owes it for canceling a 2001 energy contract after only eight months of service.

"I'm not sure the president is even aware of (the PUD's problems with Enron)," said Al Aldrich, the PUD's government affairs director. "If we get 2,000 letters or so, I think there's a good chance it gets on his radar screen."

A FERC spokesman said on Thursday that transcripts that show that Enron intentionally drove up the price of contracts it sold to the PUD and others will be reviewed "expeditiously," and that the findings will be added to a number of ongoing lawsuits against Enron.

However, FERC gave no indication that it's ready to invalidate the PUD's contract with Enron.

And while FERC may not be listening, an outpouring of support has been flowing the PUD's way since it decided to spend $100,000 transcribing a thousand hours of Enron trader conversations.

On the tapes, the traders can be heard gleefully admitting to driving up electricity prices during the 2000-01 West Coast energy crisis, when the record cost of buying electricity led to the PUD raising its rates by 50 percent.

"Thanks for taking on Enron," a resident of Kelso, Wash., wrote to the PUD. "You guys are great."

A customer from Monroe said: "This is fan mail. I heard the Enron tapes this morning. Thank you, thank you and thank you for your efforts on behalf of your customers."

The names of the letter writers - at least one from as far away as Florida - were not made public.

Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com .