Times series was unfair, City Light's Zarker says

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Seattle City Light Superintendent Gary Zarker yesterday disputed a Seattle Times series that said his utility was poorly prepared for the energy crisis, leading to big rate increases and debt.

However, some City Council members called for beefed-up City Light oversight — perhaps in the form of a utility advisory board of energy experts.

At a morning briefing before the council, Zarker said he was "frustrated by the arguments we think we've seen in the articles," referring to the Seattle Times series which started Sunday and ends today.

The series found that while all Northwest utilities suffered in the energy crisis, City Light was hit harder than some because of decisions that left ratepayers vulnerable to power markets at the worst possible moment. Rates are now up an average of 58 percent from 1999, and the utility is stuck with $1.7 billion in debt.

'Strong exception'

"We take strong exception to their conclusion," Zarker said.

Zarker spurred a debate among council members about whether they had provided adequate oversight of City Light during the energy crisis.

"I frankly think it was a crapshoot with loaded dice," said City Councilwoman Jan Drago. "Nobody did well in this game."

But Drago and others suggested the city should look into creating a separate utility board — the norm at many other large public utilities — to provide expert advice to the council and utility managers.

Others do it differently

Of the nation's 10 largest citizen-owned utilities, City Light, which ranks ninth, is the only one without some sort of separate utility board. In Seattle, that oversight role is left solely to the City Council and mayor.

City Councilwoman Judy Nicastro said she had always felt "trepidation" voting on issues related to City Light because of the complexity of the utility business.

"I'm not an expert, and none of us are," Nicastro said.

"I'm ready for a change," said City Councilwoman Margaret Pageler, who chaired the council's energy committee from 1995 to 1999. She said the utility business has changed and so should City Light.

City Councilwoman Heidi Wills, who chairs the energy committee that monitors City Light, argued that the council has a lot of expertise.

"We do have a very good board of directors," Wills said. "You've got people with a lot of knowledge on this issue."

But Wills said perhaps an "independent technical body" of some kind could offer advice. She has proposed spending $25,000 to $50,000 to hire a consultant to study whether the utility's management is adequate.

Zarker urged the council not to entirely cede its authority to some other panel. The utility has been a leader in salmon recovery and green power, he said, because of the direction offered by political leaders.

Still, Zarker said he would be open to creating a technical panel he could "bounce ideas off of."

No specific rebuttal

In his appearance before the council, Zarker did not rebut any specific conclusions in the Times series but accused reporters of making up their minds before they started the project.

He has blamed City Light's predicament largely on California's deregulation, last year's drought, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's refusal to move quickly enough to cap energy prices despite a legal mandate to ensure those prices were just and reasonable.

In fact, Zarker was preparing to fly to Washington, D.C., yesterday to lobby against Congress' latest efforts to deregulate energy markets.

Seattle Times Reporter Alwyn Scott contributed to this report.

Jim Brunner can be reached at 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.