Illinois
COMMENTRY

Electric consumers' bill of rights

For the past few years the front in the battle to protect small business and residential consumers in electric utility restructuring has been waged in state capitals. Illinois' legislators recognized that cooperatives are structured differently than for-profit, investor-owned utilities, and the General Assembly insured that our co-ops would continue to have local control and local decision making authority on utility restructuring. As a second battle front opens in the United States Congress, it is critical that state restructuring laws be recognized and allowed to work in any federal legislation that might be passed.

Bill Griswold

As I write this, your cooperative leaders are preparing to leave for Washington D.C. to talk with our representatives and senators. They will discuss the following issues:

Access to affordable, reliable and safe electric power - Rural electric systems should continue to have access to loans from USDA's Rural Utilities Service, and to the federal Power Marketing Administration's (PMAs) hydroelectric power programs. Both are important resources to ensure universal service — access to reliable power at affordable rates — for rural America.

Equal business opportunities - Cooperatives should be afforded the same or similar business opportunities as any other electric utility or energy service provider. Co-ops exist solely to provide necessary services to consumers and are owned by those consumers.

New burdensome regulations - Restructuring legislation should not impose new, costly regulatory burdens on cooperatives. Rural electric cooperatives are regulated and governed by their consumer-owners. All electric cooperatives that own transmission are subject to the open access requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Electric cooperatives that borrow from the Rural Utilities Service are subject to wide-ranging regulations governing all aspects of their operations. Electric cooperatives that do not employ RUS financing are already subject to full Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulation. No further regulation is required.

Market power - The Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) - PUHCA provides important consumer protections — under federal law -for electricity consumers and for investor-owned utility stockholders. If Congress repeals PUHCA, as is currently being considered, the consequences will include a concentration of market power and diminished competition. If Congress repeals PUHCA, new consumer protection measures must be enacted that allow consumers to guard against market power abuses and ensures that consumers are not denied the benefits of competition.

Federally mandated date of implementation - Electric cooperatives are deeply concerned that a federal mandate to implement retail wheeling will hurt the rights of states to craft customized solutions to meet their unique challenges. The federal government must give states enough latitude to judge when and if retail wheeling is beneficial for consumers in their state.

Real customer choice - All electric consumers must have the right to join together to establish and operate a consumer-owned electric system, if they so choose. In addition, consumers must retain the right to employ their cooperative in meeting their needs and expectations over time.

During a national meeting earlier this year, the directors of your electric cooperative and others from across the nation endorsed a resolution that reaffirms our cooperative's commitment to consumers.

We believe this Electric Energy Consumer Bill of Rights represents the standard against which electric

Bill Griswold is a director for Illinois Rural Electric Cooperative and the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives. He also serves on the board of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. In 1998 he was honored as the Illinois Cooperative Council's member-director of the year. Griswold has also served his community as chairman of the Greene County Farmers Home Administration Board, Greene County Extension Council, Greene County National Birth- Defects Foundation, and Illinois Valley Livestock Association.

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utility restructuring should be measured. All consumers must be guaranteed;

1. The right to have access to reliable, affordable and safe electric power.

2. The right to join together to establish and operate a consumer-owned not-for-profit electric utility.

3. The right of consumer-owned not-for-profit systems to be treated fairly and recognized as a unique form of business.

4. The right to elect representatives to manage their consumer-owned form of business to best meet their needs.

5. The individual right to privacy that assures information about consumers will not be released without their prior express consent.

6. The right to determine the scope of energy services to be furnished through their consumer-owned not-for-profit utilities.

7. The right to use consumer-owned, not-for-profit utilities to provide additional services that meet the needs of their consumers and communities.

8. The right to work in cooperation with other consumer-owned entities with common goals.

As the debate over the future of how consumers purchase energy services continue, electric cooperatives will work hard to ensure that legislators understand that these rights must be a part of any federal legislation they consider if all consumers are going to be treated fairly. We must continue to deliver a clear and focused message that we believe consumers — no matter how large or small and no matter where they live — are entitled to expect certain rights in a restructured utility marketplace.

Electric cooperatives are unique and valuable. They are economic democracies and they depend on your support, your knowledge and your participation. Local control is priceless. Let's protect it for future generations.

AUGUST 1999 • ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING 5