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.- ,:. ." ".,. ~ (._.......t.__~ ,c:." .,';~;--=:-'.;~".J.~0:-. 1 .. . T"~"'- . . ." -..' .. WHY I-aOOVER DM1'S 'DIRT-CHEAP' POt'l1~R MAY STAY IN THE MArJDS OF A FEW FOR s..u..c Mort than 1,JOO MM' of Itv- droelulr'U pok~". rood unbdinchly ltnc. PlnItv of room for grrnctA. Con. tact Wuurn Arr.a Pcw.ocr Administra- tion, c/o HOO1.,"" Dam Vhal sort of adverti..ement ..-ould draw plenty of responses if it "'..ere pJaud in nt'.....sp.ape'"' across the West But \liAPA, ..~ the federal power- marhting agency is known. nN'd Dot bother. Tht' Reagan Adminisb"atiOD and the J,ULe$ of C&lifornia, Arizona, and ~t'\'ada U't' about to reach an agn>ement that ~iD c:ontinue to restrict the to....er- ing dam', prodigious output to municipal and other public power SY5tems until 2017. The- uerage price of the federal po"'er: an incn-dible O.Sf per kwh, about the &ame as the public: systems have heoPD paying for 47 Jean;, and only 3.5:l- of the wholesale cost ot commerc:i.alIy generated elt"ctricit), in the region. E!ectricit)' (rom the dam. which 5tnd- dles the Colorado Ri\'er along the Arizo. lUI.Nevcub. border. "is dirt-<he.ap pow. er-th.at's all th~N' is to it." say, Ronald K. Greenhalgh. WJJ>A'S assistant admin- istrator. The agenc)", c1ieDts-who &en'e 10 million consumers-are pleased. 'ror the next 30 ye4U"6. the present Boo- Yer Ibm eu.st.omen; will know e~y what the)" are getting, God and weather pennitting," nys F'.dward Weinberg. whose la,,- fum o( Duncan, Weinberg &: Miller represents public power s~t.ems in Nenda.. DlST0RT1111G _leu. Not .surprisingly, the deal nnkles the rt'gloo', have-not&.. San Diego Gas &. Electric Co., (or instance. bu)', about half its t'lecLricit), supplies (rom otht'r UtJ1Itif'S_ Its OlIo'll generating rests art' 20 times as great as Lht' cost o( Hoover po.....er. and its rt'uil Tatfo-J1.8c per h.h, or SI18.4.3 per month (or the aVerage homeowner-are among Ole highest in the nation. Yet a {edt'ra1 pre(. erencr system that puts most invest.or. owned utilities; (ar behind public systems has e1!f'C"tively froun out Soul Diego C&[ and othen; that were not bu);og Hocl\.er power from the start. ",,"'e f~1 that btoc.aUM a large part o( Hoover WILS fl!\ancecl with fe-dl!'ra1 taxes, ...t should be able to get &Orne of that power," eo~ " plains Vice-Prestdl!'nt Alton T. Davis. -.' Environmt'nlalisu, mt'an....hi1e. .say { that maintaining ''''JJ>A', bargain rate& t voiD ani)' l!'ncouragt' consumption-and 8 Lhus foIU ulilities into unnrteSsa.ry eon- I 12"P~Ssw[[IOJA.PRi. 16. l!/8ol '..~. . --.,. - ~'. ~:. '- ,. . 1 \ ::. ." PO"'U. 1110.\04 HOOV'UI. DAM:S SOlDAl B' OF THL "RICE OF OTIIEJI. LOCAL SlJPrUEJU StructiOD of fossiJ.fuel or nuclear gener- aticg plants ",'heD demand outstrips Hoover', ,uppl)'. "'Underpricing of He>> ver Dam', power," 5.a)'5 Thomas J. GraB', an Environmenbl Defense Fund attorney, NwilI1e&d t.o. waste of ener- gy." AdcU Peter F. Cowht'}., a politic:aJ 6cientist at the Unive~ity of California at San Diego and . member of the city's Enerl:)' Ad\-isory' Board ''"J'he (ederaJ gonmment is undermining the growth o( a ration.a.l inle~bte po.....er '>'stem by distorting the pricing system." Opponents of ttlt' Hoon-r power agreement also chargt that tht' ft"l:lt'ra1 go\"t'rnment is shorLchanging itself. "Vinat the)" should h.v(' done is to offer the pov..er OD an open-bidding basis," says C.owheJ. Indf'ed. the difference be-- hi. een Hoo\'er', current selling costs and _ _ n '-- .... The new contract will keep the aveI3ge base price of Hoover power at ]937 prices until 20]7