Bulletin (Northwest Public Power Association) articles from August 2007

Bulletin (Northwest Public Power Association) archives from August 2007

2007 Utility Pole Conference comes to Vancouver, Wash.(Association News)
August 1, 2007... If you are in engineering, operations, materials management, or purchasing, you should definitely plan on attending the 2007 Utility Pole Conference and Trade Show on October 10 and 11. This conference, co-sponsored by NWPPA and the Western...

Credit, collections, and customer service at the Davenport.(Association News)
August 1, 2007... This October, the three Cs will meet the four stars when the annual NWPPA Utility 3 Cs Workshop is held at the only four-star hotel in Spokane, Wash.: the Davenport Hotel. Though the workshop will run from October 17 to 19, a special...

EPCE tackles workforce challenges.(Association News)
August 1, 2007... The Energy Providers Coalition for Education (EPCE), a partnership of utility organizations, has come together to address the challenges facing the utility industry today. As an EPCE member, NWPPA is helping to develop, sponsor, and promote...

BSC designated as national education center.(Association News)
August 1, 2007... United States Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman recently designated Bismarck State College (BSC) as the National Power Plant Operations Technology and Education Center. U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan made the announcement on May 18. This...

A look back at public power.
August 1, 2007... 50 years ago--1957 NWPPA presented the One Cent Power Award to 19 utilities whose average residential rate for 1956 was one cent or less per kilowatt hour... Seattle City Light Director of Finance Arthur O. Olsen was presented with a 45-year...

Poor internal communication can damage customer service.(Customer Service)
August 1, 2007... If you took a poll at your public utility and asked every employee to rate the level of communication between management and staff, and among the different departments, would they make your day and give your company high marks? I doubt it. ...

The challenge of RPS for publicly owned utilities in the Pacific Northwest: compliance with the applicable RPS will be unique based on each utility's size, load growth, and resource mix; there is no "one-size fits all" compliance strategy.(Legal Column)
August 1, 2007... With the recent adoption of Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) in both Oregon and Washington, the landscape of renewable power generation is set to change dramatically in the next two decades. Washington In the fall of 2006,...

Investing wisely in future leaders and teams through coaching.(Policy Making & Management)
August 1, 2007... What makes a wise investment? Investing in anything involves having an inspired vision for a better future, a commitment to values, an intention for improvement and growth, and a desired outcome for generating sustainable cycles of...

Klickitat landfill wins award.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... At its 60th Annual Meeting, the Washington Refuse and Recycling Association awarded Klickitat PUD's HW Hill Landfill Gas to Energy Project with its 2007 Sustainability Award. The Sustainability Award is presented in recognition of commitment...

General manager changes at IID.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... Following a closed session meeting in which the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) Board of Directors evaluated the performance of General Manager Charles Hosken, the Board voted 4 to 1 to terminate his contract with the district. The motion to...

Frisco to lead Energy Northwest nuclear engineering team.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... Energy Northwest has selected Joe Frisco as the engineering general manager for the consortium's Columbia Generating Station, the only nuclear power plant in the Pacific Northwest. In his new role, Frisco oversees a broad range of...

Bryant elected to the Council of Rural Electric Communicators.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... Kootenai Electric Cooperative's marketing manager, Larry Bryant, has been elected to the Council of Rural Electric Communicators (CREC). Bryant will represent the northwest region in his position on the Council. The CREC is composed of...

NWPPA members Schori and Doneen receive APPA awards.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... At the American Public Power Association's (APPA) National Conference in San Antonio, Texas, Jan Schori, Sacramento Municipal Utility District's (SMUD) general manager, received the Alex Radin Distinguished Service Award. It is the highest...

Su euga moves to Nevada.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... Columbia Rural Electric Association's (CREA) marketing and member service manager, Jim Su euga, has left the locally owned cooperative to become the chief operating officer for Valley Electric Association, an electric cooperative in Pahrump,...

Flake named new SMUD manager.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has named Scott Flake manager of Power Generation. Flake will oversee the operation of the utility's cogeneration, hydro, wind, and solar generation plants. Flake first joined SMUD as a...

Crisson selected as next APPA president, CEO.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... American Public Power Association (APPA) Board Chair Terry Huval has announced the selection of Tacoma Public Utilities Chief Mark Crisson to head the national organization for community- and state-owned electric utilities upon the upcoming...

Chugach Board appoints panel.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... The Chugach Electric Board voted unanimously at its June 20 meeting to appoint five community executives to a Blue Ribbon Panel. The Board has tasked the group to review the utility's organization and operation, and make recommendations for the...

WRECA elects Estrada to top position.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... The Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association (WRECA) elected Robert Estrada to be president for the 2007-2008 term during the Association's recent Annual Meeting. Estrada is the secretary on the Board of Directors of Lakeview...

Nicholas retires from Snohomish.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... After 30 years of service at Snohomish County PUD, Bob Nicholas has announced his retirement. His final day at the PUD was August 2. Nicholas has served in many different capacities at the utility, but has primarily been a leader in...

We remember.(Member News)
August 1, 2007... After a period of declining health, Emerald PUD (EPUD) founder and former Board member, Doug Still, passed away Sunday, July 1, at his home in Cottage Grove, Ore. He was 83 years old. EPUD owes much to the ongoing efforts of Still: he was a...

CoBank strengthens support for rural energy industry.(Associate Member News)
August 1, 2007... At the end of June, CoBank announced its creation of the Electric Distribution Lending division, an offshoot of the bank's Communications and Energy banking group. The new division will manage CoBank's more than $5 billion in financing to over...

Analysis of an SEL relay's event report helps prevent possible fire.(Associate Member News)
August 1, 2007... The event report and Sequential Events Recorder (SER) capability of advanced relays offered by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL) of Pullman, Wash., enable protection engineers to gain a better understanding of faults and...

Shell subsidiary closes on Avista Energy acquisition.(Associate Member News)
August 1, 2007... Shell subsidiary Coral Energy Holding, L.P., and certain of its subsidiaries (Coral Energy), announced at the beginning of July that it has closed on its acquisition of substantially all operating assets of Avista Energy, Inc., which were...

Renewable generation: the "fair-haired child" of the 110th Congress.(Washington D.C. Report)
August 1, 2007... With the 110th Congress focused intently on climate change issues and "energy independence," wind, solar, and geothermal developers are collectively viewed by many members of Congress as the "fair-haired child" of the energy industry. Buoyed by...

Pole attachments: commodity or controversy?(Cover story)
August 1, 2007... When asked to write an article regarding pole attachment issues in the utility industry, I had no idea what awaited me. The battle lines are being drawn between the utility pole owners and those who want access to this valuable real estate....