139 



the schools in that county. And in 6 months, we have reduced $10 

 miUion of our A&G costs associated with the Trojan Nuclear Plant 

 in our corporate costs. But to stay competitive, we have to change 

 as a company. 



It has been said that God made the world round so that we 

 would not be able to see too far down the road. If that is true, we 

 have no alternative but to prepare for the future by learning from 

 the past. If there is anything that PGE can share from its past ex- 

 periences it is this: Review your options carefully; be willing to 

 make the difficult decisions; act quickly and decisively. In that re- 

 gard, Bonneville needs the opportunity to act quickly and deci- 

 sively. If they do not, you have heard that they will be non-com- 

 petitive. I do not believe anybody is going to leave. The true fact 

 of the matter, a 20,000 megawatt hydroelectric system with the 

 cost they have, they are going to depend upon it. But clearly fun- 

 damental changes need to be made. Bonneville's management is 

 addressing those fundamental changes, but it is important that 

 they move quickly and decisively as I said. I think it is important 

 that they have the opportunity to do that. 



Just a couple of short comments with respect to the issues re- 

 quested that we comment on. First, we think it is possible that a 

 government corporation could provide Bonneville with some finan- 

 cial flexibility that they do not now have. We think that should be 

 studied. 



Second, we think that the constraints from the federal personnel 

 requirements and others are overly restrictive and that they ought 

 to be given some freedom because this management team at Bon- 

 neville has shown both the will and the ability to make the changes 

 and to address them immediately. 



And in the end, the ultimate objective is to bring about a cor- 

 poration or an entity that exists today under the oversight of the 

 Northwest Power Act and the other Federal Government oversight 

 that they have to deal with. I believe that these laws and the 

 present oversight are in fact working. So Bonneville, to conclude, 

 needs the opportunity to make the management changes, realign 

 the organization, address tiered rates, unbundling and bring about 

 the competitive nature that they are talking about. Administrator 

 Hardy and his management team can do that and we support 

 them. 



Thank you for this opportunity. 



Mr. DeFazio. Thank you. 



Mr. Crisson. 



[Prepared statement of Mr. Reiten follows:] 



