Local Utilities Rush To Adapt To Competitive Climate

Inland Power & Light Co. members will save an average $10 per month on their electricity bills starting Oct. 1, Assistant Manager Dave Clinton said Thursday.

A 12 percent rate decrease - the first in decades - also will position the Spokane-based cooperative for the more competitive energy marketplace that lies ahead, he said.

“We’re going to try to take an increased percentage of that market,” Clinton said.

Much of Inland’s service territory overlaps that of Washington Water Power Co. Clinton said the $4 million rate rollback makes Inland power cheaper for those who heat homes with electricity, and also for most commercial customers.

WWP rates have been flat for a decade, and the investor-owned utility has made a commitment to hold the line for another five years.

Clinton said Inland also plans to freeze rates. The cooperative buys all its electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration, which is reducing its prices Oct. 1 by an average 13 percent.

The new rates will remain in effect for five years.

But Clinton said less than half the Inland cut can be attributed to Bonneville’s action. More important, he said, are in-house cost-cutting efforts he credited to General Manager Dick Heitman and Inland’s board of directors.

The cooperative now contracts for data processing, for example, and construction practices have changed. At the same time, a tree-trimming program that is a model for the industry has been implemented, he said.

“We did nothing to cut costs that would compromise service,” Clinton said, adding that a recent survey showed overwhelming satisfaction among new members.

The cooperative has 29,000 accounts and a staff of 95.

A few of Inland’s largest irrigation customers may pay slightly more for their power, Clinton said. Bonneville eliminated some rebates given to summer pumpers.

He said Inland rate reduction efforts have not ended. A new five-year plan, besides anticipating the addition of more customers, calls for extending new services to existing customers.

Clinton said he did not want to discuss what those might be.

“We plan to expand our service into other areas to the extent it will benefit the cooperative and our members,” he said.

, DataTimes