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Electricity: Conservation Goes Just So Far Industry Governemnt Consumer Protection Opinion, EastSide Journal, December 12, 2000

A clamor is growing for the government to 'do something'' to stem the alarming increase in electricity prices that are hitting residents and businesses across the nation with the fury of a winter blizzard. But in its zeal to respond to consumers, state and federal officials should avoid imposing short-term solutions that only paper over the real problem.

Washington's Gary Locke and other governors of western states recently met to coordinate a response to this electrical storm which has clobbered California in particular. The governors agreed up several ``principles,'' none of which really require any heavy lifting on their part.

They agreed to ask their minions to voluntarily conserve their use of the juice. They asked the feds to intervene by reconsidering a cap on wholesale power prices charged by private utilities. They encouraged investigations to see whether power companies are manipulating supply to reap excessive profits. And Gov. Locke demanded that solutions benefit all of the West, not just California.

However, the governors paid little attention to the real problem: the lack of new generating plants.

The solution to high energy prices -- whether it's electricity or fuels like gasoline and natural gas -- is to increase production. But new power plants are being delayed or blocked at every turn by environmental and zoning concerns. There's been a 20-year lag in construction that has eroded our cushion of energy reserves.

What's needed from government and private industry is a strategic plan to encourage more investment in the production of electricity. Conservation is necessary, of course, but it won't meet the growing demand for electricity triggered by our growing population and economy. The Pacific Northwest alone needs more than 3,000 megawatts in the coming years, according to a recent report by the Northwest Power Planning Council. That's roughly the amount of power for three Seattles.

The report on the region's supply of electricity (available at www.nwppc.org) warns that we risk a 24 percent chance of being unable to fully meet demands for power during coming winters. Outages could range from minutes to hours and from a small loss of power to thousands of megawatts, depending on combinations of weather, demand, and ability to obtain surplus juice from other parts of the nation.

We're in this fix because we scared ourselves senseless over the cost and risk surrounding nuclear power plants. Whether, in hindsight, that was a good public policy decision is still open to debate. But we resigned ourselves to the current predicament by failing to replace nuclear power with anything other than good intentions and pledges to turn down our thermostats a degree or two.

Yes, governors, proceed with your investigations. Marshal your lobbyists for federal intervention. Inspire us with catchy new conservation programs. But none of that will produce one new kilowatt of electricity.