Document text
Pacific Power will add choices of 'green' and off-peak prices By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune Starting March 1, Pacific Power customers in Oregon will be able to get energy from safe, renewable sources - wind and geothermal - or potentially save money by gearing to daily or seasonal rate fluctuations. They may also stick with the same basic service they get now. Under an electric utility restructuring plan approved by the 1999 Legislature, Pacific Power will offer options that allow users, for less than $10 a month, to enable the company to buy more wind and geothermal power, which is then blended with power from all sources on the grid. "We're not racking up any huge profits from this," said Pacific Power spokesman Deston Nokes, Portland. "Our profit is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. We're doing this because it was mandated by the state, with review and input from all the consumer, business, environmental and energy groups, so as to offer users greater choice." Subscribers to the Fixed Renewable Plan pay the same basic rate as now, plus $2.95 a month to buy 100-kilowatt "blocks" of wind and geothermal energy, which replace coal, natural gas and hydroelectric power. Users on the Renewable Usage Plan pay about $6 to $9 extra a month over basic rates to purchase 100 percent wind and geothermal power. Users choosing the Habitat Plan essentially use the Renewable Usage Plan, plus pay an extra $2.50 a month for salmon recovery, which goes directly to Pacific Salmon Watershed Fund, a nonprofit group. The increased demand for renewable energy expected under the new plan not only enables Pacific Power to buy more from renewable energy suppliers, but is a motivator to developers of energy to build more wind farms and acquire more geothermal power, said Nokes. Without the shift to cleaner, renewable energy sources, Pacific Power would continue to draw heavily on coal and natural gas, both of which produce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas causing diminished snowpack and water supplies, rising sea levels and a decline of forests and wildlife habitats, according to an environmental assessment by the Oregon Office of Energy. Coal also creates smog, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and other air pollutants that harm human, plant and animal health, it said. Hydropower dams are causing salmon declines and nuclear plant wastes are highly radioactive and have no safe means of disposal, it added. Pacific Power's grid at present is supplied 75 percent by coal, mostly from Wyoming plants, 15 percent by Northwest hydropower and 9 percent by natural gas. Less than 1 percent comes from wind and biomass. Wind and geothermal is supplied to Pacific Power by Green Mountain, a Texas energy company now expanding into the Northwest. The subsidies will help Green Mountain develop wind generators in the Columbia Gorge, Nokes said. "If you, as a consumer, really believe in bringing more renewable power into our system and helping fish habitat," said Nokes, "then you can choose that option - or, by not answering the enrollment form, just stay with the same basic plan." The restructuring offers two other options with no environmental effects. A Time of Use Plan exploits the fact that energy rates differ according to the time of day, week and year. It allows customers to reduce bills if they can avoid using energy at peak times: 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and during weekdays and summer months, when air conditioners place a huge demand on power. Peak prices can be four times the off-peak rate, so there's money to be saved. However, if you get on this plan and use lots of energy at peak times, your bill will be considerably more than if you stay on the Basic Plan. In addition, you must get a special meter, which costs $1.50 a month. The plan is limited to 3,500 users in the state. With the Seasonal Flux Plan, your rates float up and down with the market, which follows supply, demand and temperature. You may pay above or below the present basic rate in any given month, whereas the Basic Plan you have now tends to flatten the ups and downs. You have to sign up for the Flux Plan by Feb. 26, then are able to re-enroll each fall. Using averages from this year, Pacific Power estimated the cost of 1,000 kilowatt hours as follows: Basic - $55.84; Fixed Renewable - $58.79; Renewable - $63.52; Habitat - $66.02; Time of Use - $59.89; and Seasonal Flux - $55.78. Nokes stressed that the voluntary monthly fees do not generate cash for Pacific Power, but rather is passed through to Green Mountain, which, by supplying renewable energy to the grid, draws down the demand for energy sources that produce greenhouse or polluting gases or degrade fish habitats. John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.