Originally published Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Editorial
Uneasy lies the head of Puget Sound Energy
The Times shares the public's uneasiness over the sale of Puget Sound Energy to an Australian investment bank and Canadian pension funds.
The Times shares the public's uneasiness over the sale of Puget Sound Energy to an Australian investment bank and Canadian pension funds.
Puget Energy is the largest private utility in Washington. Its managers and directors are here, and they are where the buck stops. After the acquisition, the buck will stop in Australia.The citizens and ratepayers who spoke at the Utilities and Transportation Commission's hearing in Bellevue Thursday sensed this issue, though some of their specific worries may have missed the mark.
Even if all its shares are owned by foreigners, Puget will remain a separate company with books open to state regulators. Puget will have to follow the same laws to build a power plant, to raise rates, and so on.
Ratepayers will still be charged for the cost of works necessary to serve them, and should not have their rates raised one penny to meet the financial obligations of Australian or Canadian stock buyers.
There was a thought at the hearing that Puget is a community asset, like the body of water for which it is named. "This is privatization!" one man said. Legally it is not. Puget already belongs to private shareholders. This is a proposal to exchange one set of shareholders — mostly Americans investing for their retirement — for another, including funds that pay for the retirement of Canadians.
But the citizens were not entirely wrong. Something real is being lost; they could feel it. Julie Avila of Finn Hill touched a part of it when she recalled that during the storm of 2006, when she was out of electric power for 10 says, someone from Puget called every day to check on her family.
"If a company were owned by investors in Canada and Australia, I don't think we would be getting those calls," she said.
Whether she is right about the calls to her house, no one can know. But common sense and experience tell us that it matters where the company's ultimate boss lives. If a storm knocks out the power of 100,000 people, it matters whether the CEO is in that storm, and whether the directors are in it. Economic theory might say it shouldn't matter, because financial incentives remain the same, but it does matter.
The UTC should take a hard look at this proposal, and the behavior and character of the acquirer, the Macquarie Group of Australia. The regulators should keep in mind whom they work for, and who will benefit from their decision.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist: A tragic clash of cultures

Ken Auletta talks about "Googled"
Ken Auletta talks about Google with Brier Dudley at the Seattle Central Library.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- 'Missing' SeaTac man found with new name, in new state
- Police: DNA from officer's slaying matches suspect
- Prosecutors consider charges against suspect in police shooting
- Three more fires ignite in Greenwood
- Steve Kelley | Hasselbeck gives Seahawks' sagging season a stay of execution
- Plans call for Triangle to become West Seattle gateway
- Bill Clinton meets with Senate Dems on health care
- Trucker dies as big-rig plummets off SF bridge
- McGinn next Seattle mayor; Mallahan concedes as vote gap widens
- Washington coordinator Nick Holt says his Huskies defense is improving
- Prosecutors prepare charges against suspect in police shooting
256 - House health bill unacceptable to many in Senate
246 - Pelosi tours Seattle's Swedish after health-care vote
171 - Prosecutors prepare charges against suspect in police shooting
143 - Alleged shooter tied to mosque of 9/11 hijackers
135 - Obama puts heat on Senate to speed health bill
123 - Resolute Fort Hood soldiers ready for return
119 - McGinn more than doubles his lead over Mallahan
98 - Cutaia says replay handled properly on Austin TD
69 - Josh Smith picks UCLA
69
- For 80-year-old Maple Valley man, hoops aren't just a dream
- Plans call for Triangle to become West Seattle gateway
- Three more fires ignite in Greenwood
- 'Missing' SeaTac man found with new name, in new state
- Pakistani-American cafe, bar owner on verge of being Granite Falls mayor
- Silver Lake restaurant destroyed by fire
- All You Can Eat | Fruit flies: thrill to the kill
- Taste | Ruth Reichl still reigns as queen of America's culinary scene
- Police: DNA from officer's slaying matches suspect
- Book review | Ayn Rand: goddess of the market, gateway to the American right





