44 



interests diverge, it is regional interests that must overcome 

 special interests — whether the issue is long-term energy 

 efficiency and renewable energy investments or the restoration of 

 environmental resources. I was heartened when Administrator 

 Hardy reaffirmed his regional stewardship commitments in a recent 

 letter to this Task Force, and rejected those who think local 

 interests should supersede BPA's regional responsibilities.^ 

 For a profit-maximizing private business, customer interests and 

 customer satisfaction are always paramount; for a BPA, these 

 values must always be balanced against a broader public interest. 



3. The core of the Regional Act rema ins sound; its integrated 

 resource planning system has served as an international model and 

 its authors quite literally wrote the book for the rest of North 

 America on energy efficiency as a resource opportunity for 

 utilities. BPA has a long way to go in orchestrating the 

 sustainable energy future contemplated in the Act; the response 

 should be not to give up but to redouble our efforts to 

 revitalize the Act's numerous mechanisms. 



4. Despite some claims to the contrary bv some hiahlv self- 

 interested utility and industrial customers. BPA today is a 

 hiahlv competitive wholesale power supplier fand the Function-bv- 

 Function review will result in further improvements) . BPA can 

 remain the West's preeminent wholesale power supplier without 

 sacrificing its environmental stewardship responsibilities or its 

 role in promoting a sustainable regional energy future. We 

 vigorously oppose efforts to turn BPA into the equivalent of a 

 gigantic profit-maximizing commodity broker that focuses solely 

 or largely on selling kilowatt-hours as cheaply as possible. 

 Those who embrace that vision cannot explain why the Northwest 

 would need or want to employ a public agency for the purpose. 



5. It is time to issue a put up or shut up challenge to BPA 

 customers who claim that they are preparinv to go elsewhere for 



^Letter from Administrator Randall W. Hardy to Honorable 

 Peter DeFazio, October 15, 1993. 



