MISSOURI TO LOOK AT DEREGULATION OF ELECTRIC UTILITIES

A Missouri Public Service Commission task force and a state legislative committee are studying how best to deregulate the retail electric utility industry.

The Public Service Commission has appointed a 38-member task force. The group includes representatives of investor-owned and municipal utilities, as well as rural electric cooperatives, consumer groups, business and labor groups and state agencies.

The task force includes a representative of Citizens Electric Corp., a utility company based in Ste. Genevieve.

Four lawmakers also serve on the task force, including Sen. Wayne Goode, D-Normandy, and Rep. Carol Jean Mays, D-Independence. Goode and Mays chair the interim legislative committee.

State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, and state Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, serve on the interim committee.

The interim committee will focus on telecommunications as well as energy deregulation. The Public Service Commission task force will focus solely on electric utility deregulation.

The commission has instructed the task force to present its report by Feb. 15 of next year.

House Speaker Steve Gaw said the interim committee of seven representatives and seven senators will report its findings and recommendations prior to the start of the 1998 session of the Legislature in January.

The Moberly Democrat said the legislative committee will focus on how best to proceed in an era of deregulation. Gaw said lawmakers must look at how to promote retail electric competition and protect consumers too.

Kinder said industry after industry has been deregulated nationwide over the past 20 years. The list includes everything from trucking to airlines to telecommunications, he said.

"One of the last regulated monopolies is delivery of utilities," Kinder said.

Congress is considering four or five different bills that would deregulate the electric utility industry, said Bill Washburn of the Public Service Commission staff.

Kinder said, "Deregulation is coming at both the state and federal levels, and I am proud to be part of the interim committee that will be looking into these complex issues."

Kinder said deregulation benefits consumers in the form of lower prices from increased competition.

"These reforms hold the potential for huge economic gains for all our people,' he said.

Karl Zobrist chairs the Public Service Commission. He said deregulation is coming, driven by states that have high power costs.

One of those states is Illinois. Commonwealth Edison, which serves the Chicago area, has some of the highest energy charges in the nation. Much of the electricity there is generated by expensive nuclear power plants, Zobrist said.

But legislating deregulation isn't easy. Illinois failed to pass deregulation legislation this year.

"It is a very complicated issue," Zobrist said.

He said it is important to take the time to study the issue and develop solid legislation.

Zobrist said the February deadline seems reasonable. He acknowledged, however, that some state lawmakers probably would like to see faster action.

But Zobrist said the Public Service Commission doesn't want to jeopardize the safety and reliability of electric power the state currently enjoys.

"We have moderately- to low-priced electricity in this state," he said. "We don't want to depart from that trend and have that price go up."

A major utility in New Hampshire sued that state's public service commission after that agency implemented deregulation on its own.

Zobrist said Missouri's Public Service Commission couldn't act on its own because state law doesn't permit retail electric competition.

"We have statutes that represent the traditional monopoly status quo," said Zobrist.

Even with deregulation, the local utility company likely would continue to provide the wires that bring power to homes and businesses.

"You don't want to have 20 wires to your home," Zobrist said.

Under deregulation, he said, customers could have a choice of whose power they want to buy.