Feasibility study to consider benefits of unified systems operation for Railbelt electrical utilities: affordable, reliable electricity is the study's goal.

• Author: Resz, Heather A.

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A study exploring the feasibility of unifying systems operation of Alaska's Railbelt electrical utilities is the next chapter in a story stretching back to 1969 when a citizens' advisory vote recommended one utility for the region.

Alaska Energy Authority Executive Director Ron Miller said the decades since have seen various pushes to unify Alaska's utilities under a single system of operation.

Most recently, in 2003, the legislatively created Energy Policy Task Force concluded that to efficiently energize Alaska's economic development, the Railbelt utilities should develop a unified system operation. See www.akenergyauthority.org/ EnergyPolicyTaskForce/EPTFreportPrintPerfect.pdf)

The purpose of the current study is to build on the work of the Energy Policy Task Force, Miller said.

"Someone has to answer the question 'Is it in the best interest of the ratepayers to have six individual utilities?' Someone has to answer the question 'Does it make sense to have six individual utilities and one power provider?'" he said.

A 1998 study for the Alaska Public Utilities Commission by Black and Veatch International indicates the Railbelt utilities might reduce production and capital costs by 3.36 percent through unifying systems operations.

Special assistant to the governor on energy issues, Joe Balash, said unified systems operation models have worked well for utilities in the Lower 48.

"It's not about who did what in what year to whom," he said. "It's about how do we deliver power to the Railbelt grid in the most efficient way possible."

Balash said the administration is pushing to move the conversation beyond regional politics and begin working together to tackle challenges identified in the 2004 Railbelt Energy Study by consultant R.W. Beck.

That study estimates Alaska will need more than $5 billion in investment and operation and maintenance expenses in the next 25 years.

Tony Izzo is an Alaska energy consultant, and was the chief executive at Enstar Natural Gas Co. for 5 1/2 years, with more than a passing interest in the efficient delivery of reliable, affordable power.

"We don't have any type of coordinated planning with the consumers' best interest as the focus," he said. "We need an energy plan for the same reason we need a long-term fiscal plan."

CONFERENCE, STUDY TO EXPLORE UNIFICATION'S COSTS, BENEFITS

Alaska Energy Authority chief Ron Miller said the feasibility study is one of a list of recommendations from the...