02/03/1999 08:07 AM House URS

  HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON UTILITY RESTRUCTURING                                                                              
                  February 3, 1999                                                                                              
                     8:07 a.m.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
COMMITTEE CALENDAR                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
ACTION NARRATIVE                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
TAPE(S)                                                                                                                         
99-1, SIDE(S) A & B                                                                                                             
99-2, SIDE(S) A                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
CALL TO ORDER                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CHAIRMAN BILL HUDSON called the House Special Committee on Utility                                                              
Restructuring meeting to order at 8:07 a.m.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
PRESENT                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
Members present at the call to order were Representatives Hudson,                                                               
Cowdery, Kott, Rokeberg, Davies, Berkowitz, and Green [alternate to                                                             
Representative Porter].                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
OTHERS PRESENT                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
Senator Loren Leman; Eric Yould, Executive Director, Alaska Rural                                                               
Electric Cooperative Association, Incorporated.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
SUMMARY OF INFORMATION                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
CHAIRMAN HUDSON discussed the committee's focus for the 1999                                                                    
session and asked for the interim Electric Utility Restructuring                                                                
Committee's report and for the committee's recommendations.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG AND REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES came before the                                                               
committee and reported on the activities of the interim committee.                                                              
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR LOREN LEMAN announced the legislature would cooperate with                                                              
the Alaska Public Utility Commission (APUC) in funding, managing,                                                               
and selecting a consultant to address certain issues that would go                                                              
beyond what the committee could do.  Senator Leman proposed a pilot                                                             
project that could produce results that would be beneficial for the                                                             
study in Alaska.  He explained the main goal is to provide an                                                                   
economic and engineering assessment of the risks and rewards of                                                                 
wholesale and retail competition in the Alaska market and the other                                                             
goal is to provide comments on the pilot study.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
ERIC YOULD, Executive Director, Alaska Rural Electric Cooperative                                                               
Association, Incorporated (ARECA), testified via teleconference                                                                 
from Anchorage.  He stated they represent both the cooperatives and                                                             
municipal utilities of the state and endorse the study, however,                                                                
ARECA is concerned that the cart is being put before the horse.  He                                                             
further explained that the pilot study perhaps will ultimately                                                                  
drive the conclusions of the study.  Mr. Yould said ARECA believes                                                              
the study needs to be done first, develop a template for the state                                                              
and then test that template with a pilot study.  He reiterated that                                                             
the pilot study is due on March 1, and noted that he has not been                                                               
contacted by the consultants.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
MR. YOULD expressed further concerns.  He said ARECA doesn't                                                                    
believe any system can possibly work in Rural Alaska and that there                                                             
isn't a level playing field in the Railbelt area which reaches from                                                             
Fairbanks to Homer.  Mr. Yould suggested that, if we do get into                                                                
retail competition, that these issues have to be carefully                                                                      
considered.  He stressed they do not want Anchorage to get hurt by                                                              
whatever comes out of the restructuring.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
COMMITTEE ACTION                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
The committee took no action.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
ADJOURNMENT                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
The meeting was adjourned at 9:43 a.m.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
NOTE:  The meeting was recorded and handwritten log notes were                                                                  
taken.  A copy of the tapes, log notes, Report and Recommendations                                                              
on Electric Utility Restructuring, Senator Leman's Guidelines                                                                   
Suggested by the Joint Committee, and the Department of Commerce                                                                
and Economic Development Request for Proposal may be obtained by                                                                
contacting the House Records Office at 130 Seward Street, Suite                                                                 
211, Juneau, Alaska  99801-1182, (907) 465-2214, and after                                                                      
adjournment of the second session of the Twenty-first Alaska State                                                              
Legislature, in the Legislative Reference Library.