234 



expensive and more reliable than gas. By 1983 the electric steam 

 boilers were not used since natural gas was much cheaper than 

 electricity. The early 1980 's saw 40 percent of Dmatilla 

 Electric 's residential electric heating turned off in favor of wood 

 stoves. Today wood stoves are losing their popularity and people 

 are meOcing other fuel choices. 



The best public policy is to encourage the efficient use of energy. 

 Yet Oregon is one of the few states who have a fuel-blind building 

 code — a building code bitterly contested by the natural gas 

 industry. The question should not be should BPA pay electric users 

 to switch to natural gas. Rather, why is the natural gas industry 

 not promoting efficiently using natural gas. Why is the gas 

 company encouraging people to replace electric water heaters which 

 are 98 percent efficient with gas water heaters which are 65 

 percent efficient? Why isn't there a natural gas super energy 

 efficient home design? Is there a natural gas company water heater 

 wrap program or energy efficient window progreun or even a house 

 insulation progrzun? 



Energy companies, electric or natural gas, serve their consumers 

 best when they promote 2md market energy efficiency. Congress 

 should encourage this. 



The last of BPA's acquisition program I plan to address briefly is 

 the conservation program. Umatilla Electric has a long history in 

 conservation for our member-consumers. The most successful areas 

 of conservation have been for irrigation consvuners and portions of 

 residential consumers. Umatilla Electric' s irrigators use 30 

 percent less energy and 25 percent less water than they did 15 

 years ago. This was accomplished by modifying and replacing 

 equipment, by physically changing the system (lower pressure) , 

 reducing water application and down-sizing pumps and motors. 



The residential consumers who have conserved the most energy have 

 been those who made physical changes to the equipment providing 

 their heating and/or cooling. For example, change from a forced- 

 air electric furnace to a high-efficiency electric heat pump. 



Our experience points to one of the basic problems with BPA's 

 conservation progreun. Rather than paying by measure based on tiny 

 samples, BPA should pay on the basis of actually saved energy. BPA 

 pays too much for conservation as a consequence of not paying for 

 delivered savings. Another reason for high BPA conservation costs 

 is that BPA is held to a different standard than anyone else. BPA 

 is expected to staff for the region, financially support state and 

 local conservation progreuns, fund building code enforcement, fund 

 conservation conferences and be required to manipulate cost 

 effectiveness . 



