231 



DeFazio Hearing 

 Emerald PUD, page 4 

 September 25, 1993 



Bonneville has assumed the role of resource provider for nearly all of the public power 

 community and, to a lesser extent, for the investor owned utility community. This has 

 led to resource acquisition decisions that are far removed from the people who 

 ultimately pay the bill. This isolation and distancing of the decision-makers from the 

 people has dramatically lowered the level of accountability for these decisions. In 

 contrast, locally elected directors of PUDs, municipal utilities, and cooperatives are 

 directly accountable to the billpayer for their decisions. Many years ago after the 

 decision to participate in the Trojan nuclear power plant was made by the Eugene 

 Water and Electric Board, the consumer-owners of the utility protested. When 

 Bonneville agreed to regionalize the responsibility for that decision there was enough 

 distance between Bonneville and the billpayers throughout the region that the 

 objections subsided. When Bonneville recently entered into a contract to acquire the 

 output from the Tenaska power plant, and refused to disclose the terms and 

 conditions of that agreement even to their utility customers, there was little recognition 

 of the risks and the magnitude of that decision by the people responsible for paying 

 the bill. Billpayers assume that the government regulators will exercise their oversight 

 and ensure the public's interests are protected. Unfortunately, in the case of Tenaska, 

 those regulators, the Northwest Power Planning Council, showed little interest in 

 holding Bonneville accountable for that decision by demanding to see the contracts or 

 calling for public disclosure. 



The -Hassle Factor' 



If recent public utility ventures into competitive bidding result in decisions to purcheise 

 projects that cost more than Bonneville's estimated long-term cost, this will be a 

 reflection of either a conviction that Bonneville's costs will escalate more than 

 expected, or that the cost premium is worth not having to deal with Bonneville. We 

 have already seen many utilities take actions of independence to avoid the "hassle 

 factor." The general public's mistrust and disillusionment with government also 

 impacts Bonneville. People are demanding a government that works better and costs 

 less! We applaud Bonneville's Function-By-Function review and the Competitiveness 

 Project. These initiatives are steps in the right direction - to make Bonneville more 

 competitive. Bonneville must become more efficient at providing its services, 

 streamline its processes, create clear and shorter lines of authority, empower its 

 employees to make decisions, and eliminate the burdensome bureaucracy that creates 

 the "hassle factor." 



Caretaker Role 



Bonneville has the responsibility to, and is uniquely situated to, protect the natural and 

 built assets of the Northwest. At the heart of this role must be a reversal of the 

 deteriorating condition of one of this nations most valuable assets, the Columbia River 



