Seen a Rogue on the loose? Get in touch with our Roguemeister: JOHN SCHRAG jschrag@wweek.com (503) 243-2122 FAX: (503) 243-1115 In a move that would be comical if it weren't so roguishly outrageous, Kaiser Aluminum last week announced that it's shutting down its operations in the Northwest in order to sell electricity back to the government during the current regional energy crisis. You can't blame the folks at Kaiser for wanting to make a buck (or several million, as in this case). But you've gotta wonder what's going on with the folks at the Bonneville Power Administration who set up this scenario. In 1995 the BPA signed five-year contracts with Kaiser and the region's other aluminum companies. Previously, BPA had retained the right to interrupt or reduce power delivery in the event of a cold snap or shortage. In the new deal, BPA retained no such right. Thanks to its sweetheart deal, Kaiser has total control over 190 megawatts of power for this month, which it purchased from the BPA for the bargain rate of $22.40 a megawatt-hour. Now it's selling the power back to the BPA for $500 a megawatt-hour--a more than 2,000 percent profit. To be sure, there's a reason why BPA made the deals--other power marketers were offering lower prices, and BPA needed to make certain guarantees to retain customers. But today it's obvious who got the better of whom. "What you have is Kaiser outsmarting Bonneville," says Steve Weiss, policy analyst for the Northwest Energy Coalition, who talked with WW just moments after getting off the phone with people at BPA. "It's not like the people at Bonneville don't feel foolish," he continued. "They do." Though the intent of BPA's contracts with aluminum companies is to protect jobs, the company announced that to save the energy it's selling, it would shut down its operation, idling 400 workers for 10 months. Under their contract, those workers will get "up to" 70 percent of their wages, but that's small change compared to the estimated $52 million the company is expected to net on its power play. The new contracts slated for October 2001 won't have the same problem. And on Dec. 12 the Department of Energy announced that it would try to block Kaiser's move, so it's possible the story could still have a happy ending. But it never should have gotten this far.