84 



Mr. DeFazio. Thank you. Thank you for staying precisely in the 

 time. The red Hght just went on. You must have practiced. Chris- 

 tine Ervin, Director of the Oregon Department of Energy, welcome. 



STATEMENT OF CHRISTINE ERVIN 



Ms. Ervin. Thank you. Chairman DeFazio, Congressman Smith, 

 I am Christine Ervin, Director of the Oregon Department of En- 

 ergy. 



I do appreciate this opportunity to share Oregon's views on Bon- 

 neville's resource acquisition programs. The issues that you are 

 looking at here are clearly important to Oregon and the region. 



My written testimony addresses the specific questions that you 

 laid out, the seven questions in your letter. My remarks today I'd 

 like to focus on conservation acquisition in particular, which relates 

 to several of the questions in terms of strengths and weaknesses 

 of Bonneville and potential prospects for meeting the plan. 



In the short term, let me say that I agree we certainly are on 

 track for reaching Power Council goals for all resource acquisition 

 and we have made great strides in this region in terms of acquiring 

 conservation, largely due to the leadership and the resources pro- 

 vided by Bonneville. 



We also have to remind ourselves that those goals have been rel- 

 atively modest compared to the goals ahead of us. From the Oregon 

 perspective, if we look at the overall resource least-cost strategy, if 

 Bonneville and the region's utilities are going to stray significantly 

 fi-om that path, it certainly won't be due to a lack of natural gas 

 plants to help diversify our fuel mix. The market is taking care of 

 that. 



And it's not going to be for lack of good soxind planning because 

 I think our plans in the region are arguably the best in the coun- 

 try. If we stray, it's going to be in the execution of that sound plan- 

 ning, a failure to achieve, at a minimum, the conservation identi- 

 fied in the regional goals. 



I think that's where we could be headed without some enhance- 

 ments to what is basically a good system. My concerns, I might 

 add, mirror some of the concerns that I have with rene\vable re- 

 sources and fisheries, but due to time constraints, as I said, I will 

 be focusing on conservation. 



Instead, what I will do is focus on what we see as four key ele- 

 ments to an electricity efficiency strategy for Bonneville and the re- 

 gion. The strategy is groimded firmly in Bonneville's new competi- 

 tive thrust and that's an effort I strongly commend. It's built on the 

 marketing approaches used by successful businesses. 



I think that unless Bonneville adopts those market and end-user 

 customer-driven strategies and provides a sustained commitment 

 to those strategies, we won't be able to meet -our long-term goals. 

 I'd like to add also that I wholeheartedly agree with Randy Hardy's 

 point that we should measure success not by dollars, per se, or by 

 efforts, but by results. That's the whole basis for the Oregon bench- 

 marks process. I strongly am committed to that approach. 



These are the four elements of the strategy, briefly. One, estab- 

 lish wholesale tiered power rates and create other incentives for 

 local utilities to pursue conservation. Two, target the markets with 

 the greatest potential. Three, focus on Bonneville's xmique 



