OPINION
Power for the People This is one state agency you've got to love and respect. In this government-bashing era, anyone interested in seeing tax dollars put to good use should visit Oregon's Public Utility Commission, as we did last week. The PUC is a three-person commission that oversees investor-owned utility monopolies. Its charge is to ensure that customers receive safe, reliable service at reasonable rates. Run correctly, as it has been for years by the current commissioners and staff, the PUC benefits practically every household in Oregon. It is, in short, our most significant consumer-protection organization. Such a role, of course, regularly puts the PUC at cross purposes with powerful corporate interests. Thus, it was hardly surprising to see that the seemingly benign legislation under discussion in the PUC's main hearing room last Wednesday contained a serious attack on the agency's regulatory authority. In the guise of benefiting rural Oregonians, SB 142 would return some $400 million in refunds and reduced rates potentially due to customers of US West. The bill would also strip the PUC of much of its ability to regulate the state's major telecommunications companies. Countering attacks from US West is one of three major issues getting the PUC's attention right now. The second is Enron's proposed restructuring of PGE. When Enron acquired this city's major provider of electricity, the commission insisted the deal benefit PGE's customers. Ultimately, it exacted concessions worth about $140 million. Now Enron wants to sell off most of PGE's electricity-generating assets to become a seller of electricity while leaving the production of energy to others. As with the merger, the PUC will insist that PGE-Enron make this restructuring benefit residential customers. In particular, the commission will have to decide how to split the significant profits that will result from the sale of PGE's dams. Third, there's the matter of Scottish Power's proposed $7.8 billion acquisition of PacifiCorp, Oregon's other large investor-owned electric utility. Given that Scottish Power is currently in no position to compete with PacifiCorp, as Enron was with PGE, the PUC may have difficulty obtaining the same sort of leverage it held over the PGE-Enron deal. Though they generate surprisingly little media attention, these issues are tremendously important, often rivaling in long-term significance much more widely heralded activity in the Capitol nearby. As long as the Legislature doesn't mess with its regulatory authority and the governor continues to appoint sound commissioners, it's comforting to know the Oregon PUC will be looking out for our interests intelligently and effectively. The PUC has origins in the pre-statehood era, when Oregon Country's
civil
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