OCR Text |
Show 80 cities join UP&L in hydropower issue Vernal City, Naples City, and Uintah Uin-tah County are among 80 governing entities en-tities which have joined Utah Power and Light Co. in its fight to be allocated a share of the cheap hydroelectricity generated by federal dams in the Western United States. On the other side of the argument, stands 40 Utah cities that are now preference customers, and now receive hydroelectricity. In question is a 75-year-old federal doctrine which allows electricity generated at government-owned utilities. UP&L contents that those dams were built with tax money from all people, not just from people living in cities which have government-owned government-owned utilities, therefore, the hydroelectric power should be given to all taxpayers. The argument against the UP&L claim is that in the beginning the hydroelectric power was much more epxensive than the electricity being producted by UP&L. Even so, the 40 cities stuck by the hyrdroelectric power as an investment, expecting it to become cheaper in the future. When it did, the investment paid off and they should now be allowed to enjoy their good fortunes. They also claim it was not direct tax money which built the dams, but federal loans, which have been paid back over the years by electricity elec-tricity rate payers. Defenders of the current "preference clause" also claim that UP&L's motive is not altruistic. Although UP&L claims they will lower their rtes should they be given an allocation, their critics claim UP&L has no such intention. They claim UP&L wants to solidify its monopoly over the electricity being used in the state. UP&L says if their lawsuit against the preference clause is upheld they will be able to reduce electricity rates by as much as 25 percent. This would save rate payers a total of S50 million a year. This would be possible because hydroelectric power costs only one-eigth one-eigth as much as electricity generated by UP&L's coal fired plants. UP&L is asking for a total of 200 megawatts of hydroelectricity from Hoover, Glen Canyon, and Flaming Gorge Dams. If the UP&L case is upheld those 40 Utah cities stand to loose as much as the 80 cities stand to gain. The cities with preference now pay considerbly less than UP&L customers. If UP&L was allocated 200 megawatts of electricity, elec-tricity, those cities would then be required re-quired to purchase a portion of their electricity from UP&L as a much higher cost. Federal officials admit UP&L's case is extremely formidable. After the original applications for the hydroelectricity hydroelec-tricity were filed, U.S. Energy Secretary Donald P. Hodel, who is a proponent of the preference power, conceded that the UP&L case carries a lot of weight. The documents filed by UP&L claim the preference clause constitutes a violation of equal protection and due process of the law under the U.S. Constitution. |