Oregon energy deregulation not like California’s
■ Oregon’s legislation won’t require
publicly owned utilities, such as EWEB,
to venture into the wholesale market
By Lindsay Buchete
Oregon Daily Emerald
When compared with California’s botched
deregulation, which has left the state with
rolling blackouts and outrageous electricity
rates, it’s easy to see why Oregonians would
be worried about their own deregulation plan.
Oregon energy officials say, however, that
Oregon’s deregulation, set to begin Oct. 1, will
be completely different than California’s.
The deregulation legislation, Oregon Sen
ate Bill 1149, was passed during the 1999 leg
islative session. The enactment is designed to
give customers of investor-owned utilities,
such as Portland General Electric and Pacifi
Corp, the option of entering the wholesale en
ergy market. This does not include the pub
licly owned utility Eugene Water and Electric
Board, which is Eugene’s energy provider.
The bill states that a customer of an investor
owned utility will be given energy portfolios to
choose from, one of which will allow a cus
tomer who has a 30 kilowatt-hour demand or
more to enter the wholesale energy market. This
would allow the customer to by-pass the utility
and, in theory, possibly pay less for energy.
Bob Valdez, Oregon Public Utility Commis
sion spokesman, said the deregulation is very
different from California’s deregulation, which
forced customers into the deregulated market.
Senate Bill 1149 “only gives customers the
option of entering into the wholesale market,
and each customer has the option of staying
with their current energy plan,” Valdez said.
But Oregon’s deregulation will not affect
Oregon homeowners at all, except in very ab
stract circumstances, said Dick Varner,
EWEB’s fiscal services supervisor.
“No resident will have a 30 kilowatt-hour de
mand,” Varner said. “Only some small and most
large businesses have that high of a demand.”
The bill will have the biggest impact in Port
land and Salem, which each have customers
who are serviced by investor-owned utilities.
The bill could directly affect Eugene only if
EWEB decided to allow its customers the same
options as the investor-owned utilities.
“The target is on large industrial customers
that could potentially benefit from going to di
rectly to the wholesale market,” Valdez said.
Still, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., plans
to work toward repealing the bill.
“Even though the bill itself won’t directly
affect Eugene, the effects on the wholesale
market from deregulation could effect Eu
gene,” DeFazio said.
State Rep. Bob Ackerman, D-Eugene, who
is working with DeFazio to repeal the deregu
lation bill, said deregulating the Oregon ener
gy market will open it up to profiteering.
DeFazio and Ackerman’s concerns about
deregulation stem from the inevitable energy
price increases now hitting the Northwest.
While EWEB has been putting off increases
for as long as possible, the current drought,
high demand for energy and California’s
deregulation have driven up prices on the
wholesale energy market and caused the cur
rent energy crisis.
Valdez argues that deregulation will have
no effect on the price of energy. He says in
creases are inevitable, and deregulation will
only give customers more options.
“It’s the supply-and-demand issue that is
causing the price increase,” Valdez said.
Mat Northway, EWEB’s manager of Energy
Management Services, said most customers
won’t want to enter the deregulated market
anytime soon anyway because of the whole
sale market’s current conditions.
“When market prices go down, deregula
tion will be offering the option for customers
to find lower prices,” Northway said.
Secretary of Education pushes Bush’s school plans
■ Roderick Paige stressed
standards, accountability and
assistance for parents during
a keynote speech in Eugene
By Evan Cael and Carli Morgenstein
for the Emerald
U.S. Secretary of Education
Roderick Paige emphasized high
standards for all students in a short
keynote address Friday as part of
the 34th annual Oregon Confer
ence for Education.
About 400 educators and educa
tion supporters sat down to a
three-course lunch at the Valley
River Inn and listened intently to
Paige, though he gave no opportu
nity for a question-and-answer ses
sion following his speech.
In his address, Paige explained
the outline of President Bush’s ed
ucation plan, repeating Bush’s
motto, “No child left behind,”
throughout his speech. Bush’s plan
asks educators, as well as parents
and children, to accept responsi
bility for the learning process of
each child.
“This comes from the depths of
a man’s heart who really wants to
make a difference in the lives of
boys and girls,” Paige said, refer
ring to Bush. “And he needs your
help.”
Paige reinforced the issue of
high standards for all. He said he
feels strongly that each child has
equal potential, and that it is unfair
to categorize children by their
backgrounds. Echoing the presi
dent, Paige said he thinks there
should be an annual assessment of
the educational institutions in the
United States.
This assessment would high
light potential problems in educa
tion plans and help show what ar
eas need attention, he said. Paige
said he understands that there are
many effective strategies, with the
main one being accountability for
results. He plans to provide assis
tance for parents to enable them to
become active in the learning
process.
To achieve the goals proposed
by Bush, he said, educators will
have to incorporate these tactics:
raising student performance, im
proving teacher quality, providing
safer learning environments, re
ducing bureaucracy and increasing
funding flexibility for the nation’s
schools.
Bush has budgeted $5 billion for
his education plan. His proposal
will provide the Education Depart
ment with a $1.6 billion increase
for elementary and secondary edu
cation, according to government
reports found at www.ed.gov. This
investment, the president main
tains, will help provide much
needed assistance for disadvan
taged students who have been left
behind too long.
The president has promised at
least $1 billion for reading pro
grams and $2.6 billion for states to
improve teacher quality. An addi
tional $1 billion has also been
promised in Pell Grants for disad
vantaged students seeking finan
cial assistance for higher educa
tion, according to the government
site.
Paige concluded his speech with
a challenge to all present. He asked
each person to go out into the
world and turn Bush’s education
plans into reality. He urged those
gathered to find ways to help im
prove the education system in
their own community.
Paige said he does not want
these same concerns and questions
being asked again 20 years from
now.
“Now is the time to be bold —
when the federal government is
ready to invest,” he said.
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