{"id":8313,"date":"2017-12-11T23:13:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T07:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/rep-don-young-concerned-by-proposed-sale-of-aelp-to-canadian-firm\/"},"modified":"2017-12-11T23:13:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T07:13:00","slug":"rep-don-young-concerned-by-proposed-sale-of-aelp-to-canadian-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/rep-don-young-concerned-by-proposed-sale-of-aelp-to-canadian-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Don Young concerned by proposed sale of AEL&P to Canadian firm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update: The full AEL&P response<\/a> has now been published. <\/em><\/p>\n

Alaska’s lone delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives says he’s concerned about the proposed sale of Juneau’s electric utility to a Canadian firm.<\/p>\n

In a public letter<\/a> to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said approving the sale “constitutes a serious breach of public interest and congressional intent.”<\/p>\n

Young’s concern is about a purchase option held by Alaska Electric Light and Power for the Snettisham hydroelectric project. Snettisham is owned by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority<\/a>, but it is managed by AEL&P. Snettisham was built by the federal Alaska Power Administration but sold at a discount<\/a> by the federal government to AIDEA in 1998. AIDEA sold $100 million in bonds to buy the project, and AEL&P is paying for those bonds with proceeds from power sales. When the bonds are paid off (something expected in 2034), AEL&P may buy Snettisham for one dollar.<\/p>\n

Ontario-based Hydro One is acquiring Avista, parent company of AEL&P, and that arrangement would go along with the deal.<\/p>\n

In his letter, Young said he is concerned that Hydro One could use AEL&P’s equity in the hydro project for Canadian benefit. Since the federal government effectively subsidized the transfer of Snettisham, Young isn’t happy.<\/p>\n

“I can (assure) you that it was never Congress’ intent that this asset be transferred for the potential profiteering by Canadian government interests,” Young wrote.<\/p>\n

Young spokeswoman Murphy McCollough said by email that Rep. Young was contacted by constituents in Juneau who were concerned about the sale. She added that Young wants to ensure that a federal project intended to benefit Juneau will continue to do so.<\/p>\n

Connie Hulbert, the president and general manager of AEL&P said by phone Monday that the company intended to file a response to Young’s letter by the end of the business day.<\/p>\n

She said there are regulatory protections in place to prevent Young’s scenario from coming to pass, and that AEL&P will continue to be controlled locally.<\/p>\n

“Nothing is really going to change with the operation of AEL&P,” she said.<\/p>\n

She pointed out that in 1998 some Juneau residents had different but similar concerns about the transfer of Snettisham from the federal government to the state and AEL&P. At that time, the City and Borough of Juneau signed an agreement with AEL&P<\/a> that requires the benefits of Snettisham to be preserved for the CBJ. In addition, the CBJ has right of first refusal if Snettisham is sold: The city may buy the power plant if AEL&P acquires it and tries to sell it.<\/p>\n

Hulbert said AEL&P’s rates will still be regulated by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, regardless of circumstances, and so will Snettisham — AIDEA is itself a utility under RCA regulations.<\/p>\n

The RCA is continuing to take public comments<\/a> on the acquisition of AEL&P by Hydro One. The public comment deadline is Dec. 21. As of this writing, three people other than Rep. Young have submitted comments. All three have been in opposition.<\/p>\n

\n

• Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or call 523-2258.<\/b><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: The full AEL&P response has now been published. Alaska’s lone delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives says he’s concerned about the proposed sale of Juneau’s electric utility to a Canadian firm. In a public letter to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said approving the sale “constitutes a serious breach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[42,132,75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-8313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-alaska-electric-light-and-power","tag-don-young","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8313"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}