Feed in tariff article

GVEA Board member Tom DeLong wrote a Community Perspective article on a form of renewable energy incentives at newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/19/state-should-buy-renewable-power/?opinion. Careful to note that this is his article not representing the GVEA board.

GVEA and Tri-Valley

GVEA formed a wholy owned subsidiary of GVEA called the Tri Valley Electric. This is to be the owner of the 50 mw experimental coal power plant in Healy that has sucked up nearly $400 million of state federal and even a little utility money.

GVEA, for the sum of $90 million in the form of loans from plant owner AIDEA and 5-6.5% interest over perhaps 2-3 decades. Homer Electric had stepped in as GVEA had been most recalcitrant at taking over the plant, so now Homer Electric is guaranteed to get power from it and is able to look over GVEA's shoulder in operating it, likely one reason GVEA created the subsidiary.

Of course, besides committing GVEA member-owners to a dirty fuel (aka clean coal) plant at a time when forward looking suggests a penalty for carbon emissions (Kyoto Protocol II), I'm also working to insure that we member-owners have the same rights as we do now with our property. Previous subsidiaries have come into being in such ways as to exclude the member-owners from meaningful participation. Alasconnect was the first, the G&T was the second. The former is in operation, the second GVEA was told 'no' by the members, a rare time when they overruled the management-board.

I've asked for the bylaws, but was told the lawyers are still working on them. The Articles of Incorporation can be found on the State Dept. of Commerce website.

GVEA Sale Press Release

What the Fairbanks Daily News Miner did with the press release.

If you want to look at more of what GVEA has before tjavascript:void(0)he Regulatory Commission of Alaska, all kinds of fascinating documents await your downloading pleasure HERE.

Rate Case filing and comments

GVEA's rate request is now filed (click on Comments tab), with a number of comments filed as well, including my own. The RCA has issued the initial order, moving the process forward.

GVEA Rate Study

The GVEA Board is close to deciding on recommended rates following a rate study. Insiders and outsiders like me have been recommending an inverted rate study that makes the first x00 of kwh at a lower rate and then increased in cost/kwh as the consumption goes up. Some of the board members who don't support this indicate that means they would have to increase the monthly service fee. I assert that the less we consume, the less it should cost. Those with a really high demand ought to be paying a higher rate for that electricity, as it requires burning the most expensive electricity. Whatever GVEA comes up with does go to the RCA, so we can have comments then. GVEA in the meantime only gives members a very elemental view and while asks for comments, doesn't give members any documentation for how they came up with those numbers. I asked for an electronic copy of this, but instead got a printed copy, which doesn't scan very well.