It’s time for reflection at the Snohomish County Public Utility District.
As they contemplate a court hearing Tuesday about citizen access to essential utility information, the PUD’s elected commissioners may want to ask themselves how it is they find themselves in what is, in effect, the position of a bystander. They may want to consider whether they have neutered the independent Northwest spirit of public utilities.
We are not judges, lawyers or power marketing experts. But we do believe that the public has a right to know the affairs of utilities. Especially in the case of public utility districts, established to allow the people to control their electric power, access to information ought to be treated as a precious birthright.
So it’s a bit confusing to find the leadership of the Snohomish County Public Utility District sitting silently as two of the nation’s largest private power suppliers try to block the release of information about their contracts with the PUD.
At issue is whether a private citizen can obtain some rather essential information: how much the PUD pays for electric power. In this instance, the PUD, after an effort to reach a reasonable settlement beforehand, has apparently decided to pursue a legal strategy that amounts to a shrug of the shoulders as the private companies seek an injunction against the utility. The unfortunate effect of any injunction would be to keep a lone citizen, activist and PUD critic David Aldrich, from receiving information about PUD contracts with two giant corporations, Enron Power Marketing and American Electric Power.
We have no doubt that the PUD is honest in its explanations that it is caught between the state’s Public Records Act and the terms of its contracts with Enron and American Electric. Certainly, anyone familiar with the regional and national power picture would also find it credible that the PUD commissioners believed they were acting reasonably to enter into the contracts. Hopefully, the PUD is not at all guided, even subconsciously, by a willingness or desire to see public discussion of the price of its power contracts limited by a lack of the embarrassing rate details. In any situation, though, neutrality about access to utility information, especially contract information, is an unacceptable position for a PUD, particularly the largest and proudest one in the state.
The local request for information occurs at an interesting time nationally. Enron has just collapsed into bankruptcy, amid extensive questions about its operations and heightened discussion of the trends toward deregulation and privatization. Perhaps the national and local developments will be viewed by the PUD commission as an opportunity to renew the utility’s identity as a public entity.
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