City Light at the end of the tunnel

Remember the Western energy crisis — and the horror of opening up your City Light bill as rates soared 58 percent?

The rates are still high, though the pain might have dulled. And this winter's interminable rains are good for the hydropower-based system.

But it's worth remembering the crisis that in 2001 swamped Seattle City Light. On Tuesday, Seattle's crackerjack panel of energy-industry and business experts — created to help City Light make its way out of deep water — released its final report and was all but disbanded.

The idea for the group came from the mayor's blue-ribbon commission, created as the city struggled to dissect where City Light went so far wrong. The City Council-hired consultants issued a scathing assessment of City Light performance, criticizing the lack of sophisticated energy expertise at headquarters, and the inattentiveness of elected officials. They guffawed over the council's troubling decisions during the 1990s to take on debt for the politically popular goal of keeping rates low. The former superintendent resigned.

In October, City Light marked its 100th anniversary of delivering its first watt, with an $800 million annual business well on its way to recovery. The mayor's office and the council beefed up energy staffs, adopted new financial policies, including a debt-reduction plan, and granted City Light more flexibility to lure energy expertise. The new superintendent is shaking up the utility.

City Light's debt-to-equity ratio, once an indefensible 85 percent, is on track to hit 69 percent in 2007. That's nearing the energy advisory board's recommended 60 percent.

Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed continuing the advisory board in similar form. But Seattle City Councilwoman Jean Godden, chair of the energy and environmental policy committee, wants to limit its scope and muzzle its members. She runs a tight ship — so tight some people worry the changes will ensure any future board won't approach the firepower it has now.

The Municipal League of King County sent a letter to the energy committee last week, urging it to keep the advisory board with as much independence as possible.

Here are the outgoing board's members, who worked for free: Former Bonneville Power administrator Randy Hardy; Jay Lapin, former CEO of General Electric Japan; Gary Swofford, former senior vice president of Puget Sound Energy; Seattle energy attorney Carol Arnold; Don Wise, a managing director of Metzler Realty Advisors; and Sara Patton, Northwest Energy Coalition executive director.

Safe to say, they know their stuff. And on one major thing they agree. There's a surer way to guard against City Light again hitting rough water at the confluence of bad decisions, a drought and a runaway market.

They conclude in their final report — or parting shot, as the case may be: "The board unanimously agreed that City Light governance must be changed if public power is to thrive in Seattle. ... City Light is subject to political winds, with sound business judgment sometimes falling victim to struggles for political advantage."

In other words, an arm's-length advisory board can make an unpopular recommendation, giving elected officials some "air cover" to make the right decision instead of the politically expedient one.

Former journalist Godden is an attentive chair, but she's no energy expert. Who is to say her successor won't return to the lackadaisical, politically driven oversight of her energy crisis-era predecessor? The un-re-elected Heidi Wills made time to insinuate herself into strip-club rezone decisions but rarely kept meetings with City Light's superintendent.

The advisory board has been a little unruly for Godden's taste. She slapped them down a few months ago in a letter, telling them to stifle their community discussions about City Light's governance structure. The mayor's blue-ribbon commission suggested the question be considered after three years, which would be, um, now. Godden insists the governance question wasn't the board's charge.

Sure, an independent advisory board might be a little like herding cats — big, civic-minded, saber-toothed cats with Type A personalities who see things needing to be done and pounce on them. Refreshing, I'd say.

Like good medicine, it might be a little distasteful. But better to take it than not.

Kate Riley's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is kriley@seattletimes.com