Continuing down a path that some called “shameful” and “a huge and unnecessary waste of money,” the Bainbridge city council voted Tuesday to spend nearly $100,000 to have a consultant investigate the idea of the city starting its own electric company.
The council voted 5-2 to approve a $99,300 contract with D. Hittle & Associates for the Lynnwood-based company to prepare a feasibility study on a takeover of Puget Sound Energy’s operations on Bainbridge.
D. Hittle, which has done similar studies for Thurston County, Port Townsend and cities in Oregon, will provide cost estimates for the creation of a city-run electric company, as well as revenue projections and options for financing the effort.
Surprise start
The vote to hire a consultant came on the same day as a surprise settlement announcement by the Sierra Club and Puget Sound Energy that put an end to the environmental group’s 2013 lawsuit against PSE over allegations that operations at the power company’s coal-fired generating plant in Colstrip, Montana violated the Clean Air Act.
The Colstrip Generating Station, which the Sierra Club has said is the “dirtiest coal plant west of the Mississippi,” is part owned by PSE and has been a lightning rod for Bainbridge activists worried about global climate change. As part of the settlement, PSE will shut down the two oldest units at the Colstrip plant in eastern Montana by 2022.
Members of Island Power, the grassroots group that is pushing for the establishment of a city-run electric company that would provide carbon-free power, said a Bainbridge power utility could provide greener and cleaner power while also increasing service reliability on the island, which was beset by repeated power outages over the past winter.
Criticism over the city’s ability to manage a power utility, however, has escalated in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, the Bainbridge chamber of commerce questioned the wisdom of spending nearly $100,000 on a consultant study when other civic issues were pressing the city and chamber officials took a stand against the creation of a homegrown electric company.
Criticism continues
Before the council vote, objections among islanders worried about a switch from PSE dominated more than two hours of talk on the topic at Tuesday’s council meeting. Some in the community — as well as a few on the city council — have questioned why the city would spend $100,000 to study an idea that some believe a majority of islanders don’t support.
Patricia Frank presented the council with a petition against the consultant study.
She noted that Island Power had raised more than 1,200 signatures in support of a PSE takeover, but added that her Change.org petition had already gotten a third as many signatures over a few days.
Frank said the Island Power petition was misleading and vague.
“Many who signed the original petition now regret their support as they learn more about it,” she told the council. “When the petition was collected, Island Power promised green and low-cost power, fewer outages, underground distribution lines and cheap broadband internet service. Who wouldn’t want that?”
Frank also said D. Hittle had a history of advocacy for municipal power and warned the study would be biased, a fear raised by others against the consultant contract.
Others noted that the promises of fewer outages would be hard for a city utility to keep and said a new power company would face the same predicament as PSE: maintaining power on an island with a fondness for tall trees and limited tree removal or trimming.
Chris Van Dyk said the city has a poor history of utility management, and said it still owes islanders a refund of $6 million from years of overcharging its customers. Van Dyk even said he heard a council member say the customers would have to sue the city if they ever wanted to see a refund.
“If that is your approach to utility management, I would suggest we’re better off with PSE,” he said.
Van Dyk also pointed out that Bainbridge would pay D. Hittle more than $99,000 for the study, while it had charged Jefferson County only $28,000 for the same analysis.
That money could be better spent, he added, and could pay for four miles of bike lanes, 15 miles of graveled walking trails, 10 covered bus shelters or 100 summer jobs for teenagers.
Questions of debt
While supporters of an island electric company have blasted the for-profit PSE for its foreign ownership and its high rates compared to other power providers, some raised alarm about debt costs for a takeover that would surpass $100 million by some estimates.
Dave Mackenzie said he estimated the debt for a PSE takeover would lead to rate increases of 28 percent for 20 years following the public acquisition.
A Bainbridge power company, Mackenzie added, would face the same issues that haunt PSE.
“Trees do what they do; they fall down and limbs hit wires,” he added.
Supporters said a local power company would put the city in a position of “global leadership,” and said climate change is a local problem as well as a worldwide concern.
Council members said that while they supported the study as a way to get more facts on a PSE takeover, their vote for the consultant contract was not a vote in favor of a city-run utility.
Councilwoman Sarah Blossom voted against the contract, and said it was a waste of money.
A feasilibility analysis would not change her mind on the merits of the idea, she said.
Councilman Ron Peltier also voted against the contract, but added he was no fan of PSE. He favored a slower approach.
“I don’t think we need to be in such a big hurry,” Peltier said.
