Privatization of Utilities — Puget Sound Energy

[charlabob]

The final hearings for the privatization of PSE are under way. First one was last night in Bellevue. Two more hearings are scheduled, in Olympia and Bellingham. (Now I know how the South King County folks feel — why didn’t they have one in Seattle?)

Anyway, here’s the story from the Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004418395_puget16m.html

Here’s the link to the PSE page, which includes information about their rate increase and their merger. Not easy to find buried under all the green, but worth it.

http://www.pse.com/Pages/default.aspx

I suspect Ken knows a whole lot about this, and can fill us in. (My original headline was “PSE Merger — Ken — Help!”)

I’m philosophically opposed to all privatization of public utilities; most adamantly roads and water, but power as well.

However, read, study and make your opinions known. The point is, deadlines approach — after which, all we have left is whining and we know how well that works.

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[Kayleigh]

Jeez.

Some people would privatize the very air we breathe if they thought they could charge us for it.

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[Ken]

I am looking into it.

In general. Seattle public utilities have resisted privatization as long as people were alive who remembered the fire that burned most of Seattle where some of the wooden pipes supplied by the private water companies were found to actually be buried logs with no capacity to carry water.

A public utility has the “public good” as its origin and goal, private companies owned by stockholders have to, by law, make decisions which maximize profit for those investors even if it is at the expense of the “public good”. It is a bit late to worry about PSE going “private” since it is already traded on the stock market and regulated by the WUTC. WUTC oversight will only be as good as the people appointed by the governor will make it. The history of the WUTC shows it’s roots in the progressive movement of the early 20th century.

http://wutc.wa.gov/webdocs.nsf/vw2005/52f2e63f2472ada788256e540078cbbc

It is not clear at the moment what effect the sale will have on the oversight power of the WUTC.

So remember this when you think a Republican Governor would not be so bad. I suspect he would appoint energy company insiders as the commissioners. History repeats itself when our memory fails.

In an actual public utility, we taxpayers are the stockholders and we exercise our oversight via the ballot box. In a publicly held utility, we have less direct control, and what power we have is directed via our elected officials and their commitment to oversight.

Also note this is a sale to Canadian and Australian investors. Their interest is going to be limited to how much cash can be squeezed from us locals.

The rise of the Canadian and Australian currencies vs the dollar (thanks GWB) will make such purchases more and more attractive to outside investors. We are reaping again what we sowed when the GAT and WTO and the world bank forced developing countries to drop barriers (read public works municipal ownership rules)to foreign investment.

It is a slippery slope indeed and we are already greased up and riding it.

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