5th power plan comment

Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon 610 SW Broadway, Suite 308 Portland, OR 97205 (503) 227-1984 ▪ fax (503) 274-2956 ▪ cub@oregoncub.org ▪ www.oregoncub.org November 18, 2004 Mark Walker Director of Public Affairs Northwest Power & Conservation Council 851 SW 6th Avenue, Suite 1100 Portland, Oregon 97204-1348 Re: Comments on the Draft Fifth Power Plan Dear Mr. Walker, We are pleased to provide a few short comments on the Council’s Draft Fifth Power Plan. We appreciate the expertise and hard work that goes into making up the Council’s power plans. We offer comments along with many other stakeholders in the hope that the document is well-rounded and can be used as a road map for future energy policy and resource investment decisions. 1. Resource Adequacy Standard. We are pleased to see that the Council agrees that some form of resource adequacy standard for the region is an important policy goal. ES-4 and 8-10. As the plan indicates, a resource adequacy standard is especially important in light of the fact that Bonneville’s role in meeting the region’s load growth may change. As the draft plan describes in Section 11, Bonneville may go from a provider of resources for the region to a more passive actor allocating existing resources and making it “clear who will be responsible for meeting load growth and on what terms.” 11-3. In our comments to the Council last April on its Recommendations for the Future Role ...