Session: State Capitol, Room 421 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-2693 Toll Free: (800) 463-2693 Fax: (907) 465-3835 Interim: 35477 Suite 101-B Spur Highway Soldotna, AK 99669 Phone: (907) 260-5236 Fax: (907) 260-5238

State Completes Sale of Four Dam Pool
Divestiture Means More Efficient Operations, Cheaper Power

(JUNEAU) - The State of Alaska has taken a giant step toward privatization, while reducing the cost of electricity in high-cost rural communities, with the sale of the state-owned Four Dam Pool hydroelectric facilities to local utility companies on Jan. 29, according to Rep. Ken Lancaster (R-Soldotna).

"I'd like to congratulate everyone who worked so hard to make the Four Dam Pool divestiture a reality," said Lancaster. "Not only are the electric utilities capable of running the four hydropower projects more efficiently than the state, but their generating capacity and power distribution service represent a tremendously important underpinning to the economy of rural Alaska."

The state sold the four generating facilities to local utility companies serving Ketchikan, Petersburg, Wrangell, Kodiak, Valdez and Glennallen for $89 million, which the state immediately deposited into the Power Cost Equalization Endowment fund, Lancaster said.

Created by the Legislature in 2000 with a $100 million deposit, the endowment is used to reduce the cost of power in much of rural Alaska, where electricity can cost up to four times more than in urban Alaska. While the Legislature intended to pay for the PCE program with the fund's interest earnings, even with the $89 million deposit from the sale proceeds, the fund is about $60 million short of being self-sustaining, Lancaster estimated.

Intended to generate electricity for up to 200 years, the four-hydropower projects are already providing energy at some of the lowest costs in the state. When the interest and debt service for the $89 million is paid off by 2017, the facilities will provide power to their communities at even lower costs.

Now that the state and local utilities have taken significant steps to address rural energy concerns, Lancaster said he hoped the federal government would step forward to contribute. He noted with approval that U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski, in his recent address to the Alaska Legislature, said he was seeking a $5 million per year federal authorization to fully fund the endowment fund shortfall.

# # #

Attachments:

• Print Friendly Version
  requires Adobe Acrobat Reader - 1 page(s) - 15 K

| Rep. Lancaster's Page |

| Top | Home | Site Search | Breaking News | Legislators | Bills |
| Committees | E-Newsletter | Surveys | Research | Help |

The Official Web Site of the House and Senate Legislative Majorities
for the 22nd Alaska State Legislature
To Report Technical Problems or Contact Webmasters