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David E. Piper 



Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative 



Testimony on Competitiveness 



BPA Task Force, 



House Natural Resources Committee 



9/25/93 



Mr. Chairman: 



My name is Dave Piper and I serve as Executive Vice President and 

 General Manager of the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative 

 (PNGC) . PNGC is a generation and transmission cooperative that was 

 form.ed in the mid-70 's and currently serves 27 rural cooperatives 

 spread out over eight Western states. On behalf of those 

 cooperatives and the over 500,000 consumers that they serve, thank 

 you for the opportunity to testify today. 



It is interesting to note that five short years ago competitiveness 

 was not an issue discussed much in Northwest energy circles. At 

 that time Bonneville's customers were not looking for non-Federal 

 resource acquisition. BPA was locked in a battle with the Office 

 of Management and Budget not over burdensome regulations but over 

 BPA's desire to add more employees than their FTE limit allowed. 

 It looked like the regional power surplus could last through the 

 decade, aluminum prices would stay high, and BPA could absorb all 

 sorts of additional fish and wildlife mitigation costs. 



It is amazing what a difference continued drought, salmon listings, 

 and a downturn in world aluminum prices can make. Unfortunately, 

 we cannot change all of those factors, we must react to them. PNGC 

 believes that those reactions must take the form of a leaner, more 

 responsive BPA and the regulatory flexibility to allow BPA 

 customers to make their own resource decisions. In other words, 

 BPA and Northwest energy markets need to become more competitive. 



Fortunately, we have in Randy Hardy an Administrator who believes 

 in competitiveness and knows that the financial integrity of 

 Bonneville supersedes the importance of any one element of its 

 budget. In launching Bonneville's "Function by Function Review", 

 Mr. Hardy is acknowledging that times have changed and Bonneville 

 must change with them. The possibility of a new regulatory 

 landscape that includes tiered rates and unbundled services, if 

 constructed properly, also brings hope that we can meet the 

 challenges ahead. 



While PNGC and its members support making the changes necessary to 

 build a more competitive BPA, we believe that those changes must 



