Alaska State Legislature Joint Committee on Electric Utility Restructuring
Senator Bert Sharp, Co-Chair Senator Loren Leman Senator Robin Taylor Senator Al Adams 119 N Cushman #201 Fairbanks, AK 99701-2879 Phone: (907) 452-7885 Fax: (907) 456-4221		Rep. Norman Rokeberg, Co-Chair Rep. Alan Austerman Rep. Fred Dyson Rep. John Davies 716 W 4th Ave #640 Anchorage, AK 99501-2133 Phone: (907) 258-8191 Fax: (907) 258-2196

Electric Utility Restructuring Committee to Meet

Joint House-Senate Committee Will Study Implementation

For Immediate Release July 16, 1998 Contact: Rep. Norman Rokeberg at (907) 258-2916 or Sen. Bert Sharp at (907) 452-7885.

Anchorage -- Co-chairman Senator Bert Sharp (R-Fairbanks) and Representative Norman Rokeberg (R-Anchorage) have announced the first meetings of the Alaska Legislature's Joint Committee on Electric Utility Restructuring. The committee will provide the next legislature with written recommendations on whether and how to implement electric utility restructuring in Alaska.

The committee will hold its first meeting August 6, 1998, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office (LIO), 716 West 4th Avenue. The committee will hear testimony from invited participants, including the Alaska Public Utilities Commission, Anchorage Municipal Light and Power, Chugach Electric Association, Matanuska Electric Association, Golden Valley Electric Association, Alaska Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and Aurora Power.

"We're hoping to learn something of what progress has been made on electric utility retstructuring here in Alaska as well as nationally," Sharp said. "This first meeting will give the committee the opportunity to organize, to hear from key players and concerned groups, and to begin its work.

The committee will meet for a second time August 18, 1998, at the Anchorage LIO to take public testimony. A third meeting will be held in Fairbanks in September.

"Alaska is unique. We are not on the national power grid and 95-percent of Alaskans receive electrical power from consumer-owned utilities," Rokeberg said. "This means we have to come up with a uniquely Alaskan solution to this highly complicated issue to protect consumers while balancing benefits and potential lower costs," Rokeberg said.

In addition to Sharp and Rokeberg, committee members includes Senators Robin Taylor (R-Wrangell), Al Adams (D-Kotzebue), and Loren Leman (R-Anchorage) and Representatives Alan Austerman (R-Kodiak), Fred Dyson (R-Eagle River), and John Davies (D-Fairbanks).

# # #