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Mr. DeFazio. Thank you. Mr. Berggren. 



STATEMENT OF RANDY BERGGREN 



Mr. Berggren. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm Randy Berggren. 

 I'm general manager of tiie Eugene Water and Electric Board, a 

 municipal utility in Eugene, Oregon. 



We believe Bonneville has an important role to play in the re- 

 gional resource acquisition. It centers around coordinated develop- 

 ment of conservation and generation resources, which we believe 

 can be enhanced under the existing structure of the Regional Act. 



Such coordinated development cannot be enhanced under the ex- 

 isting structure of Bonneville, however. Basic changes in the way 

 that Bonneville does business must occur if we are to capture the 

 conservation and renewable resources envisioned by the Act. 



Currently, resource development in the Pacific Northwest ap- 

 pears to be fi*actured with investor-owned utilities acquiring re- 

 sources according to their PUC-approved resource plans, public 

 utilities providing resources through BPA billing credit mecha- 

 nisms, and independent power producers bidding resources to both 

 Bonneville and the region's public and private utilities. 



By focusing on the creation of a viable new resource pool provid- 

 ing services to both the region's public and private utilities, BPA 

 can continue to play a significant role in resource acquisition while 

 at the same time allowing the region's pubHc and private utihties 

 to function autonomously in the pursuit of their individual resoiu-ce 

 plans. 



Bonneville's strengths in resource acquisition centers around its 

 ability to regionedize the cost of new resources. This is especially 

 important in the areas of region-wide conservation, acquisition of 

 major resources, and in the research, development and demonstra- 

 tion arena. 



BPA's greatest weaknesses are a product of its bureaucratic 

 structure. For instance, the agency's recent program efforts in the 

 area of conservation have been laden with arduous administrative 

 process. Lines of authority over who makes decisions are unclear, 

 thus confusing and discouraging to the applicant. This has re- 

 sulted, in our opinion, in an unacceptably slow pace for acquiring 

 conservation. 



There also seems to be a behef by the agency that it assumes 

 program risks and costs when, in fact, the risks and attendant 

 costs of those risks are allocated throughout the region. Con- 

 sequently, we feel Bonneville does treat conservation as a program 

 which they administer rather than a resource for acquisition by the 

 region's utihties. 



The implications of this have been that Bonneville is excessively 

 cautious in its conservation acquisition practices as compared to ac- 

 quiring its generation resources. 



We believe Bonneville has a history of performing well in acquir- 

 ing conservation resources, beginning in the early 1980s when their 

 region-wide conservation programs operated through their cus- 

 tomer utihties. Bonneville accomphshed an impressive startup of 

 conservation acquisition. 



Over the last 10 years, they've acquired over 300 average 

 megawatts through their customers. However, in recent years. 



