Jan 25 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Warren Cornwall The Seattle Times

A coalition of environmentalist groups is hoping Washington voters will force electric utilities to make their energy more green.

The group, Washingtonians for Energy Security, said it will file an initiative Wednesday for the November ballot that would require medium and large-size utilities to get 15 percent of their power from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, by 2020.

"It's time to really decide what our energy future is going to be in Washington state," said campaign chairman Bill LaBorde. "Is it going to be local, homegrown? Is it going to be pollution-free?"

The initiative would require utilities with more than 25,000 customers to meet the requirement or face fines. It would not count hydroelectric power as renewable energy, but it would count extra energy gained through upgrades at the dams. Utilities would also have to pursue all cost-effective strategies to conserve energy.

A utility could seek an exemption if it could prove that energy prices would rise too high, LaBorde said. For example, he said the regulation might be eased if an average homeowner's electricity bill would rise by $1 or $2 a month.

The backers need 225,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot. Supporters include the Sierra Club Cascade Chapter, Climate Solutions, WashPIRG and NW Energy Coalition.

Similar measures have failed several times in the state Legislature, partly because of opposition from business groups and utilities, which worry about having their hands tied in the search for new energy sources.

Steve Johnson, executive director of the Washington Public Utility Districts Association, said he couldn't comment on the initiative specifically because he had not yet seen it. But, he said, association members have indicated that they could meet the 15 percent requirement.

"The general conclusion was, 'Gee, by 2020, 15 percent, that's not going to be so onerous,'" he said.

But Michael Early, who heads Industrial Customers of Northwest Utilities, a group of major electricity users, questioned the need for such a mandate. Utilities are already pursuing renewable energy sources, he noted.

"Power costs are already high in the Pacific Northwest, which make it difficult for industries," he said.

Initiative backers point to Colorado in 2004, when voters passed a measure requiring big utilities to have 10 percent renewable energy by 2015.

LaBorde said he was confident that utilities here would be able to tap wind, solar and other energy sources. New wind farms are already proving cost-effective, he said. He estimated the affected utilities now get a little over 1 percent of their energy from renewable sources.