With all of the local and national publicity the Snohomish County PUD’s case against Enron has received, it could’ve been worse for consumers in Washington state, according to a Mill Creek man.
Washington could’ve had California-style deregulation of the electric power industry, according to Mill Creek Planning Commission chair Bob Collard, who is also the owner of Comfort Keepers, a business specializing in in-home care for seniors.
In 1999 and 2000, Collard was working for the Lake Washington School District in King County as assistant superintendent for business and support services. He was also the facilities committee chair for the Washington Association of School Business Officials. It was during that time that he and the association were approached by two Enron energy traders.
The Enron plan was to get more public agencies on board with a proposal to deregulate the electric power market, which had recently taken place in California.
“Everyone was looking at ways to reduce energy costs at that time,” Collard said. “Someone apparently heard about that desire, and (the association was) approached by two men from Enron.”
Collard said the traders argued that if the market were deregulated, public agencies would be able to take advantage of lower prices when market conditions warranted. Under electricity regulation, rates are fixed and not subject to market fluctuations.
“At that time, that was probably true,” Collard said. “They thought if they could get a couple of high-profile public agencies from this area on board, that their plan would have success.”
The drive stalled when Enron’s representatives couldn’t provide specifics as to what kind of safeguards would be in place against rising prices and service interruptions.
Collard said the Enron representatives tried reinforcing deregulation’s potential benefits.
“That wasn’t enough for me,” he said.
When the energy crisis of 2001-02 hit the West, Collard said he and other association members were relieved they resisted the call to endorse deregulation.
“We patted ourselves on the back,” he said.
“At the time when we dealt with them, there was nothing illegal going on,” Collard said, “they were just giving a pitch to us. But when all the corruption became exposed, we sure were glad we didn’t get involved with them.”
Collard said that after the association initially rejected Enron’s overtures that they only heard back from them a few more times regarding deregulation of Washington’s energy market.
“I guess they just decided deregulation wouldn’t work in this state,” he said.
Collard also said he didn’t talk with any other public agencies about deregulation.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
