Council meeting Monday in Evergreen

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council will hold a public meeting in Evergreen Monday to solicit input on a draft of its seventh 20-year power plan for four states in the Pacific Northwest.

The meeting will be held at the Flathead Electric Cooperative office, 2510 U.S. 2 East, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

The power council was created by federal statute in 1980 and includes state-appointed members from Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

Every five years it creates a plan that forecasts energy demand and capacity through the following two decades, directing the Bonneville Power Administration where and how to assign its resources.

Power council spokesman John Harrison said that under the plan, conservation of electricity from existing electricity generators — most of which are hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin — is the primary way the region will meet demand projections.

“We can meet nearly all the new demand in the next 20 years with a combination of conservation and demand response,” Harrison said.

“Demand response” refers to agreements between utility companies and regional electricity customers that obligate consumers to reduce their consumption when power demand peaks — such as during heat waves in the summer or cold snaps in the winter.

Bruce Measure, a former Montana representative and chairman of the power council, now serves as president of the board of trustees for the Kalispell-based Flathead Electric Cooperative. He stressed that the plan still is in draft form and could change substantially after the comment period.

But he said Northwest Montana is unlikely to see much impact and most of the energy conservation measures will be focused on the Interstate 5 corridor in western Washington and Oregon.

That said, it could help both domestic and industrial consumers in the region by providing tools to reduce electricity use.

“Most of those folks would not have the perspective or the vision to know, first of all, that there are resources available for them,” Measure said. “It might not affect Flathead tremendously, but it will give us opportunities to go to places that have a huge load, like the hospital, Plum Creek, Stoltze and other large companies, and say, ‘Have you heard about this?’”

Harrison said that Bonneville’s conservation programs include helping customers purchase more fuel-efficient street lights, irrigation pumps and industrial motors.

The effect of making conservation the plan’s main energy resource, he added, “will have a dampening effect on future electric bills,” as customers use less power and won’t be required to foot the bill for building costly generation facilities in the near future.

However, he noted that because investor-owned utilities pay shareholders by selling power, initiatives to lower consumption ultimately hurt their bottom lines. That could mean increased monthly service charges — the base fees that customers pay for electricity.

The plan also takes into account the scheduled retirements of three large coal-fired power plants in the region between 2020 and 2026. Any supply shortfalls after increasing conservation measures will be met by acquiring or building natural gas plants.

Harrison added that the council does not anticipate any new coal-fired power plants being built. The resulting emission cuts and increased energy conservation mean the region’s utilities should have little difficulty complying with recently proposed EPA carbon rule, he said.

In addition, the plan requires Bonneville to continue acquiring wind and solar power to meet Montana’s renewable portfolio standards.

Electric utilities operating in Montana are required to get at least 15 percent of their energy from renewable sources.

The power plan can be viewed online at www.nwcouncil.org/energy/powerplan/7. The comment period ends Dec. 18.

For more information, contact Chad Madron at (503) 222-5161 or by email at cmadron@nwcouncil.org.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.