07/09/1980 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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who are advocates of renewable resources might state that the net billing arrangement will make it more feasible to finance riskier kinds of genera- tion such as wind power or co-generation. Mr. Delay then asked if the . system would guarantee financing of new generation capacity. Mr. Page responded it would guarantee the purchase of the capacity which in turn would aid the financing. Mr. Delay then asked if it is true that when they guarantee acquisition of the capacity that they will also guarantee delivery of power from the SPA power pool in exchange for the power from the facility. Mr. Page responded that that is true; and additionally if a private utility wanted to build a nuclear power plant or any kind of power plant, under the bill SPA would guarantee the purchase of the power if it meets SPA's cost-effectiveness criteria, and receives in return a net credit, getting access to the lower cost SPA system. So, a utility company could form a subsidiary and have the subsidiary receive 100-per- cent debt financing under the current arrangement. Mr. Delay then stated that under the proposed bill, a proposal for a new generating facility could be made and a guarantee would be received from the system to pur- chase at a lower price than what they are building. Mr. Page responded that that was correct; but if the SPA melded rate was greater, they would not want to enter into an agreement. Mr. Delay then asked if this is one way a guarantee from SPA could be reached for power. Mr. Page responded that that was correct. Mr. Delay then asked what incentive there might be for any utility to not propose a new generating facility as opposed to conservation. Mr. Page stated that before SPA can enter into an agree- ment, there is supposedly a ranking system by which conservation would be measured first, but this is speculation based upon what the council appointed by the legislature would actually do. If EWES wanted to build a plant, SPA would evaluate it before entering into a net billing agreement. . If conservation were attractive, they would not finance it. There is a question of creditability since many people do not trust SPA. Some people are saying that the SPA administrator would encourage nuclear power and others say that because of the language in the bill, he would not be allowed to do that. Mr. Delay stated that in any case it would be another layer of decision making further away from the local area and Mr. Page responded that it would be. Mr. Haws left the meeting. Mayor Keller indicated interest from the council. Consensus was to place a question and answer session as the first item on next week's agenda. Mayor Keller also requested that EWES give a formal presentation on their long-range plan. He will get together with Mr. Page to make arrangements about this. Mr. Lieuallen asked what the nature of the council that would be created by the bill would consist of, who appoints then, to whom they are account- able, and what the role and the authority of the governors is with the council. Mr. Page responded that it is an 11-member council appointed by the Federal Secretary of Energy. Mr. Lieuallen asked if they would be appointed by the governors. Mr. Page responded that they would not be. . 7/9/80--12