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STATEMENT OF WILLIAM P. KITTREDGE 



Mr. KiTTREDGE. Thank you, Chairman DeFazio. On behalf of the 

 ratepayers of Springfield Utility Board, I wish to extend the thanks 

 of the Board for the opportunity to represent them today. Spring- 

 field is a full-requirements non-generating customer of the Bonne- 

 ville Power Administration. 



BPA continues to be a major force in the Pacific Northwest. 

 BPA's activities impact each person here on a daily basis. Over the 

 50 years since its inception, BPA has been a d5niamic engine of 

 chginge bringing power to industry and home, city and farm. 

 Founded on noble principles, refined by the Act, BPA has served 

 the Northwest well. 



Today I want to hit on two major issues, competitiveness and ac- 

 countability. More detail is in my written testimony. 



Competitiveness is a goal SUB embraced over 10 years ago. Since 

 1982, SUB has reduced overheads, mostly in personnel, over 30 

 percent while increasing service levels and unbonded capital in- 

 vestment in both our electric and water utilities. We believe that 

 our experience and success well qualifies us to provide a perspec- 

 tive. 



Overall, SUB believes that BPA's efforts lack a sense of urgency 

 and a real appreciation of the problem. An intemsil BPA notice 

 trumpets "cost cutting," advising that BPA will no longer supply 

 briefcases, a savings of $13,422. I would probably say that the 

 desktop publishing involved in putting this thing out, which I took 

 off a BPA bulletin board, exceeded that savings. 



SUB is greatly disturbed by the Administrator's talk of reducing 

 staffing levels at BPA by between 600 and 800 people between now 

 and 1997. That is approximately the current attrition rate of 5 per- 

 cent per year, and represents absolutely no progress toward true 

 cost reduction. 



SUB urges a reduction of 1,000 FTE by the end of fiscal 1994 

 and serious cost-reduction negotiations with contracting state and 

 federal agencies. Many reductions can be achieved by the elimi- 

 nation of unnecessary functions — ^for instance, elimination of BPA's 

 60 staff fish biologists, which replicate all the fish biologists in the 

 appropriate agencies, and immediate transfer of responsibility for 

 conservation programs to local utilities. 



Conservation programs now employ approximately 400 FTE and 

 consume as much as 30 percent of the program budgets. Beginning 

 the transition to utility-funded conservation envisioned under 

 SUB's tiered-rates proposal immediately would increase conserva- 

 tion acquisition and reduce costs. SUB estimates that approxi- 

 mately 40 FTE would remain at BPA to audit the use of federal 

 funds, ensuring compliance during the transition. 



Elimination of the area offices is another major step BPA should 

 take immediately. These offices are generally redundant and retard 

 progress. PacifiCorp, whose president testified earlier, is an inves- 

 tor-owned utility serving seven states, including Oregon, and it has 

 no analogous management layer. As a result, it is moving far ahead 

 of BPA in its conservation programs. 



We know from our own experience that the process is neither 

 pleasant nor painless, but it is necessary and it is taking place at 

 businesses across the Nation. It is taking place at Greneral Motors, 



