An interesting but overlooked example | Letter to the editor

To the editor:

After reading all the articles and ads from Island Power, and after attending the public meetings from both Island Power and PSE, I find it incredibly odd that we repeatedly hear about Jefferson County, but not Boulder, Colorado.

Boulder started the process of creating its municipal electricity company back in 2011. Six years and over $10 million later, that process continues, mired in the courts and power commission, with no clear end in sight.

Like Xcel Energy in Boulder, PSE says that their system on Bainbridge Island is not for sale. Like Boulder, if Island Power goes forward, our city will have to force PSE to sell.

While we continue to debate this issue in our city, it seems more than reasonable to (a) wait to see how the Boulder/Xcel lawsuit turns out, and (b) wait to see if Jefferson PUD can in fact continue operating near the cost and level of service of PSE.

These seem to be the only two electricity municipalization efforts in the whole country since the 1970s. Why the rush to be the third?

MICHAEL LIBES

Bainbridge Island