Utility financing
swells state debt
SEATTLE (AP) - With each
sale of bonds to finance con
struction of five nuclear power
plants, hundreds of thousands
of Washington state residents
go deeper into debt.
Washington Public Power
Supply System officials contend
the debt will cause utility bills to
increase by only a few dollars
each month by 1990. But con
sumer groups predict that elec
tricity rates will skyrocket.
The debt mounts with each
sale-of bonds by WPPSS, which
uses the money to finance con
struction of the plants at Han
ford and Satsop.
Many an early investor has
lost money with WPPSS bonds,
the first of which sold at 5.65
percent interest. Investors often
buy the bonds for resale, but
once the prevailing interest rate
goes up, bonds at lower rates
are hard to dispose of.
The impact of WPPSS in
tricate financing on ratepayers'
pocketbooks is difficult to de
termine and varies widely from
one part of the state to another.
One way to compute the dol
lars and cents is to take the
share of WPPSS debt incurred
by a given utility and divide that
by the number of the utility's
custgmers.
Using that formula, Seattle
City Light’s 8 percent share of
three of the plants comes to a
debt of more than $700 million.
With about 250,000 customers,
the average burden comes to
about $2,800 over 30 years, the
term of most of the bonds.
That breaks down to about
$93 a year, or less than $8 a
month, but the utility's rate
structure dictates that busin
esses will pay more of the costs
than residential users.
The Light Brigade, a citizen
activist group that monitors City
Light operations, warns that
WPPSS means a $31,000
“mortgage” facing every
household in the state.
Puget Sound Power & Light
Co.’s share of the debt puts the
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average additional cost to cus
tomers at slightly more than $8 a
month, under the formula for
the percentage of debt incurred
per utility.
Customers of the Snohomish
County Public Utility District,
which has about a 15 percent
share in the five plants, would
face average monthly hikes of
about $47.
However, all those figures are
based on the latest WPPSS cost
estimate of $17.3 million for the
five plants, more than four times
the original figure. The state
Senate Energy and Utilities
Committee recently said the
costs could exceed $19 million.
When completed — if com
pleted — the five power plants
wiil serve six million to 10 million
customers in six western states.
By issuing about $1 billion in
bonds a year, WPPSS has come
to dominate some parts of the
tax-exempt bond market. The
supply system now offers about
half of all the electrical-revenue
and joint-operating agency
bonds sold in the entire country.
—making the news —
From AnocMad Press Haport*
LIMA, Peru — Peruvian troops were ordered Sunday to
cease fire unless “under attack” in the country's border
conflict with Ecuador, the government announced.
The official news agency ESI-Peru said the decision was
communicated to the embassies of the four guarantor coun
tries of the Rio de Janeiro Protocol — the United States,
Argentina, Brazil and Chile. The protocol established a 1942
boundry line between Peru and Ecuador, but Ecuador claims
it signed the agreement under duress and is therefore not
bound by it.
"The government of Peru informed the embassies of the
guarantor countries accredited in Lima that orders have been
given to our forces to the effect of ceasing fire when not under
attack,” the agency reported.
Ecuadorean President Jaime Roldos, who declared a
state of emergency Wednesday, met with his military com
manders at the Defense Ministry in Quito Sunday but no
statement was issued.
Earlier, Peruvian President Fernando Belaunde Terry
told reporters in Lima that Peru would accept a cease-fire
when Ecuadorean forces were ousted from a third and final
outpost that he said was on Peruvian territory.
ZURICH, Switzerland — Police used water cannons, tear
gas and rubber bullets to disperse some 500 discontented
youths who threw rocks and tear gas bombs in hit-and-run
raids, authorities said Sunday.
They said several demonstrators were injured in the
clashes Saturday night and three were arrested.
Police said one young woman was hit in the face by a
rubber bullet and may lose sight in one eye. With tempera
tures at 25 degrees, the water sprayed by police froze
immediately, coating sections of downtown streets with ice.
The youths were protesting a series of trials begun last
week of scores of youths facing various charges in connec
tion with civil disturbances last spring calling for more youth
centers and low-cost housing.
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