EWEB opposes inverted payment structure
By David Brown
Of th« EmwaM
This is the second
in a series of articles
that looks at the
Eugene Water and
Electric Board and
its current rate
structure.
Adding to this
month's increased
bills, a decision is
now brewing that
may further in
fluence the Eugene Water and Electric
Board's electric rates
During Thursday's meeting of the
Northwest Power Planning Council,
EWEB submitted written testimony op
posing a proposed rate structure intend
ed as a conservation model for all
Northwest utilities The rate structure
would charge artificially low prices to
residents using below average amounts
of electricity and distribute the difference
to residents above the consumption
average
The proposal was recommended to
the NPPC by a private firm retained to
study energy rates and conservation in
the Northwest
Eugene rate payers currently pay a flat
rate tailored to reflect the actual cost of
providing electricity to the customer,
according to EWEB literature
EWEB anticipates a decision from the
NPPC on the recommendations as soon
as Oct 18, says Tom Santee, EWEB
public information manager
Under the proposal, utilities opting not
to implement the rate structure would be
required to prove savings comparable to
those intended by the rate structure If
unable to provide that proof, utilities
could be penalized with extra charges for
the electricity they buy from the Bonne
ville Power Administration, a federal
generating facility which supplies
electricity to local utilities throughout the
Northwest.
"There is some question on our part as
to whether the council has the authority
to do this," Santee says If so, the
council's authority comes under the
Pacific Northwest Electric Power and
Conservation Planning Act, a federal
law, he says
EWEB's testimony to the NPPC states
"the burden of proof might more appro
priately be placed on the Council to show
that their recommended rates can, in
fact, produce more conservation than
combinations of existing individual utility
rate design and conservation
programs.”
"EWEB's goals are the same as those
of the Council in this regard (conserva
tion), and EWEB has been working hard
toward those goals," reads a letter to
NPPC from Camilla Pratt, vice-president
of the utility's board of commissioners
"Consider that the EWEB Conservation
Center is bustling 10 hours a day. seven
days a week, and that a full crew of
energy analysts works on weekends
If EWEB were to implement the
recommended rates, 9.941 of the utility's
residential electric customers would pay
an average increase of $15 72 per
month This means 4,364 customers
would pay $3 65 more per month, three
customers would pay $517 42 more and
the remaining customers' increases
would fall somewhere in between EWEB
keeps track of exactly how much energy
each customer uses, allowing utility of
ficials to make these projections.
These increases would subsidize the
electric bills of 42,014 electric customers
who consume less electricity, the
estimates project
"There is a reasonable concern that
the 42,000 customers who are suddenly
subsidized will turn their thermostats up
a couple degrees and spend it on more
energy," reads the testimony
Photo by Mark Pynes
EWEB employees test the pressure on a Eugene water line during a recent
maintenance inspection EWEB electricity rates structures are now under scrutiny by
the Northwest Power Planning Council
Under the proposal, “virtually all
residents of separately metered
apartments (mostly electrically heated)
realize decreases of 10-30 percent, while
larger electrically heated family-style
homes show consistent increases.”
protests the testimony
Northwest utilities have fought hard
over the past few years to preserve their
credibility, says the testimony “Several
years ago the region decided that a
number of nuclear plants would be
necessary(The reference is to con
struction of five plants by the Washing
ton Public Power Supply System )
“The customers aren't so sure, but
they start paying,1' continues the
testimony. “More recently, a surplus is
declared Maybe the energy won't ever
be needed,' we say, but we re still going
to have to ask you to pay for any dry
holes "
Two of the WPPSS plants were put in
moth balls due to financing problems
But some costs of those plants is still
reflected in past and present wholesale
price increases from BPA which obligat
ed to some construction costs
EWEB is still negotiating with BPA
concerning a 1979 wholesale increase of
100 percent and a 1981 wholesale
increase of 67 percent, Santee says.
The over-all theme of testimonies and
negotiations might be that EWEB wants
its rights to self-determination within the
regional power network, he says
1
Photo by Dave Kao
“Car boots,” metal frames which lock onto a car's hubcap and
axle, prevent holders of delinquent parking tickets from driving
away.
‘Boots’ stomp on unpaid fines
By Frank Shaw
Ot the Emerald
After a three-month hiatus in
Eugene's crackdown on unp
aid parking tickets, the city has
stepped up its car booting
effort
Car boots, yellow metal
frames that prevent a car from
moving by locking its hubcap
and axle, are placed on most
cars with about $20 of unpaid
parking fines, says Jim Hanks,
the city traffic engineer.
Hanks says the car booting
program helps force people to
pay their overdue fines.
The booting program was
halted three months ago
because the traffic department
had questions about the
process of informing people
about overdue fines, Hanks
says.
"We'd put a ticket on
someone’s window,” Hanks
says, "and someone else
would come along and take it
off. Pretty soon we'd put a
boot on the car, and the car
owner would have no idea
what he’d done wrong."
Now, he says, the traffic
department sends a letter to
the person's home, informing
that person of the overdue
fines
After one parking ticket the
city has the legal right to boot a
person's car, but they usually
don't, he says.
The total amount a person
must accumulate in overdue
tickets before the vehicle goes
on the "boot list” depends on
the length of the current list,
Hanks says. He estimates the
minimum amount usually runs
between $15 and $30.
Because the people who
write the tickets usually are the
same officials who boot the
cars with overdue fines, they
usually have the list memor
ized, Hank says.
When a parking control of
ficer sees a license number
that's on the boot list, the of
ficer calls city hall to find out
whether the fine has been
paid. If not, the boot goes on
the car.
The car owner then must go
to the finance department of
city hall and pay the overdue
tickets and fine, along with an
extra $40 fee for boot removal.
Hanks warns that people
should not try to remove the
boot themselves. “You can’t
just pretend it's not there and
drive off.
“There is a plaque on the
window right where the driver
sits, so it's tough to miss. If you
try to drive off, you not only
wreck the boot but bang up
your car pretty good too,'' he
says.
Destruction of a boot con
stitutes destruction of city
property and, depending on
the boot’s value, could be
considered a felony, he says.
Hanks has only one warning
for people with lots of parking
tickets: “Watch out.”
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