April 29, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman MAT-SU - What are they hiding in there, inside Matanuska Electric Association's 70-plus page plan for future power production in the Valley?

Early this year, MEA revealed an 11-page summary of its new Integrated Resource Plan. Prepared by CH2M HILL, an international engineering and construction consultant, the resource plan is believed to describe why and how MEA will build and fund two 100 megawatt electrical generators in the next seven to eight years. MEA officials say the plan is to build one coal-fired and one natural gas-fired generator.

MEA's board of directors voted to accept CH2M HILL's plan last October. At least one co-op member/owner has formally requested to see the unabridged version of the resource plan. The board and management have refused to release it.

At its March meeting, though, the board approved a resolution putting guidelines on when the full resource plan could be released to the public. To relieve the burden of paper copies for all MEA members, the board voted to post the IRP on MEA's Web site.

The resolution expressed the concern MEA has that Chugach Electric Association, the power producer from which MEA purchases its wholesale electricity, could use the information within the IRP to its advantage. So the board advised MEA staff to “post a copy of the Association's IRP dated October 17, 2006, on the Association's website(sic) following CEA's public disclosure of its new IRP,” according to the resolution, which was signed by board president Lee Jordan.

Chugach Electric has released its Integrated Resource Plan, an independent analysis and risk assessment of Chugach's 2006 generation plan and a 2007 generation plan update.

Contrary to the board's resolution, though, MEA spokespersons Tuckerman Babcock and Lorali Carter said the co-op is actually waiting to release its resource plan until Chugach Electric reveals a highly confidential document entitled “Chugach Electric Association, Inc. 2006-2015 Financial Management Plan.” Babcock and Carter said Chugach Electric's financial plan and not its resource plan is what the co-op awaits.

Jordan said the resolution should not be interpreted by the letter, but more by the meaning.

“The resolution failed to specify that the complete IRP is what we need, including that financial information,” Jordan said. “There are things in our IRP that would put MEA at a competitive disadvantage if (Chugach Electric) saw what was in the IRP.”

Jordan said he couldn't go into too much detail about the resource plan's components, but he did say it “deals with cost estimates.”

“We're looking out for the best interest of our customers, not to make a profit,” he said.

However, Grace Salazar, of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, said the documents are separate and distinct. An integrated resource plan is an engineering document, she said, while a financial management plan is a spending budget.

MEA board member Lois Lester agreed. She said MEA's integrated resource plan and Chugach's financial management plan are two different things.

“One doesn't have anything to do with the other. That is Chugach's deal. We voted about the IRP,” Lester said.

Either way, Lester thinks the board should allow MEA ratepayers to see what they'll be paying for by making the IRP public.

“It should be released. I mean, who is going to foot the bill,” Lester said. “Should it come to pass that we build [the generators], we will be footing the bill. So we should know what we're buying.”

Only a select few have seen the full resource plan. Even Lester, a board member, has yet to see it.

“A lot of things are kept close to the chest,” Lester said, “It is kept close to the chest for certain people.”

The Chugach Electric releases can be found at www.chugachelectric.com/news/projects.html . MEA's executive summary of its IRP is at www.mea.coop.

Contact Russell Stigall at 352-2267 or russell.stigall@frontiersman.com