WHIDBEY NEWS TIMES: October 29, 2008 Editorial: PUD should fail on Whidbey Island
PSE customers poised to receive 3 percent electric rate cut
Puget Sound Energy provides Whidbey Island with reliable, renewable and affordable energy, but there is a campaign underway to take over existing infrastructure and turn it into the Whidbey Public Utility District.
Before you vote on an issue that will directly impact both your utility rates and property taxes, make sure you know the facts. The proposal to create a PUD on Whidbey has some real problems.
Don't give the newly created PUD a blank check. The voters only have a chance to vote on this once. If they approve it, they give the newly formed PUD a blank check. The PUD would be able to issue bonded indebtedness , placing the residents of Whidbey Island into hundreds of millions of dollars of debt without another vote of the people.
There will be no limitation on tax and rate increases. The PUD can raise property taxes and there’s no limitation on how high they can take utility rates. Currently PSE rate increases are set by the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC). All of that regulation, which exists to protect consumers, is eliminated if a utility takes over the electric system. Whidbey PUD would not be regulated by the UTC and, again, would be given a blank check to raise our electric rates and property taxes.
The PUD takeover will cost Whidbey Island residents $130 million. Infrastructure is expensive, and that doesn’t include the cost of maintenance or the development of future power generation. Power rates would rise 20% to pay for the bonds needed to purchase the infrastructure -- that’s $130 million spent on infrastructure that already exists and already provides our service.
PUD proponents have no expertise to run an electric utility where safety comes first. Safely operating an electric utility requires technical expertise in the fields of power generation, delivery, renewable energy, line work and engineering. PSE has a proven record of expertise to keep a utility operating on Whidbey Island.
Whidbey Island residents will lose access to renewable energy: PSE is the largest investor in renewable energy in the state. And they’re constantly acquiring more wind and solar energy. The consumers would lose access to that power and the PUD would have to go onto the open market to purchase renewable energy. Keeping PSE helps keep Whidbey Island green.
The newly created PUD would create public debt, raise property taxes and increase electric rates – all without another vote of the people. Vote No on Whidbey PUD on November 4th.