daily Emerald
Vol. 82, No. 168
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Wednesday, June 3, 1981
EWEB raises
electric rates
By JOHN MILLS
Of the Emerald
Eugene’s residential elec
tricity users can expeci at least
a $7-per-month increase in their
utility bills starting August 1,
according to the rates manager
for the Eugene Water and Elec
tric Board.
At a Tuesday press confer
ence, rates manager Garry
Kunkel explained the results of
the previous night’s board
meeting where the EWEB staff
presented its findings for the
rate increase.
The new rate will be the fourth
in a series of rate increases over
the past two and one-half years.
The increase is needed
because of EWEB’s own
10-percent hike, caused mainly
by a mild winter, plus a 50 to 88
percent increase in the price of
power that EWEB buys from the
Bonneville Power Administra
tion, Kunkel said.
As late as March of this year,
the BPA had been predicting a
53-percent rate increase. How
ever, it recently pushed that
figure to 88 percent in order to
cover bonds for a financially
troubled nuclear power plant
being built by the Washington
Public Power Supply System.
The BPA is "making an effort
to reduce that below 65 per
cent,” Kunkel said The BPA
may release a final figure by
June 15, but until then, EWEB is
assuming a 75-percent in
crease, he said.
EWEB buys 76 percent of its
power from the BPA, buys 2 per
cent from other sources and
generates the rest itself.
EWEB is more definite about
its own 10-percent rate in
crease, which Kunkel blamed
on temperatures over the first
four months of 1981 that were
more than 6 percent warmer
than the year before. January
alone was 15 percent warmer
causing a loss of $1.1 million in
electricity sales, he said.
Kunkel added that the con
struction slump locally means
the number of new customers is
dwindling from 1 percent now to
a predicted zero percent next
year.
Asked whether consumers
are being penalized for con
serving power, Kunkel said
EWEB already had estimated
lower electricity sales because
of conservation. Exactly how
much of the reduced demand is
the result of a mild weather and
how much is the result of con
servation is "pretty darn difficult
to estimate," he said.
‘‘Conservation is still the
cheapest way to go,” he said,
because the cost of buying or
generating new power may go
as high as 8 cents per kilowatt
hour from the present 2.25
cents.
The cost of the Northwest
Power Bill — particularly the
BPA’s backing of nuclear plants
being built by WPPSS — will
mean a rate increase by the BPA
every year. Kunkel said the
BPA’s efforts to step up
repayment of its debt to the
federal government also is con
tributing to the rate increases.
EWEB has dampened the im
pact of the new increase by
selling $1.1 million worth of
power to California utilities and
by reducing operating costs by
$1 million, Kunkel said.
In spite of the increases the
average EWEB residential user
paid only $315 for electricity last
year, $17 more than 1979,
Kunkel said. The national aver
age user paid $438, up $56, and
received less than half as much
electricity as the EWEB user.
EWEB customers use more
electricity because about 65
percent of them use electricity
for home heating, Kunkel said.
Photo by Erich Boekelheide
They do windows
Two University business officers put down
the balance sheet and decided to “get the red
out” of their office windows — along with the
black, the brown and the indescribable.
Asked why he was taking time off from his
work as National Direct Student Loan manager
to wash Oregon Hall windows on a hot after
noon, Jim Heiss said it was because "no one
from the Emerald offered to do them "
Heiss was joined by Larry Tergeson, Ac
counting Supervisor.
In fairness to the Physical Plant, Heiss said
the maintenance staff was planning to wash
the windows in June anyway But "they were
very generous with the bucket and brushes,"
he said
Interns experience ins and outs of Capitol
By ANN PORTAL
Of the Emerald
Rod Jones, a junior in political
science, decided last term that he was
burning out. So he took a term off to work
as a "mechanic.”
Along with 44 other University
students, Jones is working as an intern in
the state Capitol this term, helping the
legislative machine run a little smoother.
Jones says internships should be
mandatory for all University students.
"It’s a whole new world when you get
out of the University,” Jones says. "I
know a whole lot more — there’s so much
to learn every day."
In addition to getting away from the
Eugene campus for a term, Jones
receives credit hours for participating in
the community service and public affairs
school’s legislative intern program.
But Jones isn’t on vacation. His unpaid
day at the office of Sen. Bob Smith,
R-Burns, usually starts at 7:30 a m. and
ends at 5:30 p.m., five or six days a week
But “it goes real fast,” Jones says.
Phil Lemman, an intern for Sen. Ed
Fadeley, D-Eugene, commutes three
days a week from Eugene, leaving at 6:30
a m. and returning at 7 p.m.
Lemman, a senior in journalism,
agrees with Jones that the change of
scene has been worth the traveling.
“There is life beyond beer gardens and
textbooks,” Lemman says.
Interns spend the day participating in a
variety of tasks that include attending
and testifying at committee meetings,
preparing press releases and tracking
bills with a computer.
But along with the exhilaration of be
ing privy to the backshop strategies of
Oregon politicians, the interns are treat
ed to a heavy dose of the pressure that
fuels the process.
Lemman says he's amazed at the
stress that builds up. District residents
often call just to let off steam, and the
intern acts as the legislator’s ear, con
vincing constituents that somebody
cares.
Jones says that dealing with the con
stituents from Sen. Smith's district has
given him a new viewpoint on the issues
— especially higher education funding
Not all Oregonians consider higher
education a top priority. For example, the
small town of Burns in eastern Oregon —
part of Smith's district — has had
between 23 and 30 percent unem
ployment this year.
Many residents can't find work within
100 miles, Jones says. "If it comes down
to higher tuition or food for district
members, which are you going to
support?"
As an intern for the Ways and Means
Committee chairer, Lemman also must
address the higher education issue.
Pointing to a stack of 50 letters from
higher education supporters, Lemman
says most alumni are sending their let
ters to Fadeley. Although student letters
are helpful, letters from parents are the
best, he says. And letters that argue
specific points are more likely to reach
Fadeley's desk, he adds.
Before the interns were turned loose in
the Capitol’s corridors, a CSPA repre
sentative briefed them, Jones says And
rule number one was a lesson in intern
legislator diplomacy: tike the stairs —
the elevators are for legislators.
Interns also learn some important les
sons by themselves on how the Legisla
ture works. Jones says he’s discoverc d
what keeps the machine running
“You gotta have a sense of humor ’’