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A

• Alameda Power and Telecom: California’s oldest municipal utility has a thorough website. The site contains a large listing of geothermal information links. There are links on how to save power and money and links to information on appliances, renewable energy and more general energy information. A Power Industry Glossary is provided to look up terms. The website also has the basics on how to establish service or pay your bill if you live in Alameda.
  
• Alberta Department of Energy: Besides the electric page, the Department’s site offers pages on oil & gas, oil sands, other minerals and environment. The electric page has links to policy documents related to the new electric structure in Alberta, including links to the Western Governors Association - April 2004  Transmission Siting Protocol. There’s also general info on the department, news releases and a link to the department’s internet forum.
• Alberta Energy & Utility Board: In February of 1995, the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Act took effect, combining the Energy Resource Conservation Board and the Public Utilities Board. The purpose of the AEUB is to regulate "the development of oil, oil sands, natural gas, pipeline, coal and electric industries." It also regulates IOU rates. The information on site includes, besides regulatory documents, a catalog of publications, maps and services which allows on-line orders.
• Alcoa: Another of BPA's big DSI customers, Pittsburgh-based Alcoa's Northwest holdings include its primary aluminum plant in Wenatchee, WA, the Intalco Aluminum Corp. primary aluminum plant in Ferndale, WA and a share (less than 50 percent) of the Northwest Alloys facility in Addy, WA. It aquired Reynolds Metals in 2000, which has reduction plants in Longview, WA and Troutdale, OR. Alcoa's site is large, with information about its worldwide locations, news releases, annual report excerpts, an excellent search utility and even a list of the board of director committees, as well as plenty of pro-aluminum propaganda.
  
• American Public Power Association: APPA is a national service organization representing 2000 municipal and other state or local publicly owned electric utilities throughout the USA, including some of the nation's largest cities such as Los Angeles, Sacramento and Seattle. The site has these pages: About Public Power, About APPA, Legislative/regulatory, utility operations, events, education, discussion forums (where customers can manage their accounts), pressroom, career center, research and development, newsletters & magazines, APPA Product store, and special utility programs.
• Anaheim Public Utilities Department: The Anaheim Public Utilities department has a page that includes substantial information about the utility and some non-electric programs associated with Orange county’s oldest publicly owned utility system. The site includes information on the city council, public utility’s board and staff.
• APS/Arizona Public Service: APS is Arizona’s principal energy supplier in 11 of 15 counties and has an up-to-date site with lots of information on the company, research & technology, and products & services. APS is owned by Pinnacle West.
  
• Army Corps of Engineers (Northwestern Division): The regional Corps office has posted a site with press releases, an org chart and other minutia. The Pacific Salmon/Fish Management Division section is loaded with quite a lot of stuff such as copies and back issues of the Salmon Passage Notes newsletter, reports and assessments for the Columbia Basin, comprehensive sections on Columbia River dams and salmon, fish mitigation, and links. Also includes links to the various district offices, such as Seattle, where you can find more interesting stuff, including over 59,000 digital images of Army Corps projects.
• Ashland, City of, Department of Electric Utilities: Ashland offers browsers a long narrative on general information about the Oregon utility, its history and future. The rate card is on line. There are sections on alternative energy, conservation, electric hints & tips, and the utility's mission statement.
  
• ATCO Group (formerly Alberta Power): Calgary-based ATCO Ltd owns Canadian Utilities Limited, which in turn owns natural gas, electric power, energy marketing and many other firms offering allied services, as well as many of Canada's more remote utilities. The site officers a "history" of sorts, a list of officers and org chart, financial info, and press releases.
• Automated Power Exchange: APX offers its wholesale clients a set of 24-hour automated power exchanges that provide forward markets allowing them to buy and sell power up to 168 hours in advance. APX says using its service will lower costs for power marketers, aggregators, munis etc. It also offers a Transmission Exchange and a Green Power Market. The website describes these services in more detail and has a separate pitch for each type of market participant.
• Avista Corp.: The Avista Corp. site has an Investor Information section with a genuine wealth of current financial data on the company, including financial reports and a connection to a long list of SEC filings such as the 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K, all viewable directly on screen.  The Avista Companies section links you to information on the utilities, the Avista Advantage, Avista Energy, ReliOn (hydrogen fuel cells), and Avista Development. Click on Newsroom to see what Avista has been up to. There are searchable archives, media contacts and a resource center. The Community section links you to information and news on what Avista has been doing in the community.
  

B

• Basin Electric Power Cooperative: The huge, Bismarck, ND-based co-op with 120 member systems serving 1.8 million consumers in nine states offers a well organized site with a map of its member systems with links to those with web pages, brief descriptions of its power plants and links to other sites. Unfortunately, Basin's section on competitive resources such as merger assistance, strategic planning and technology is available to members only.
• BC Hydro: The BC Hydro home page includes standard descriptive material on the British Columbia Crown Corporation. The site reports on special BC Hydro services like its renowned Power Smart conservation program and its Powerex: Power marketing subsidiary. The site includes a map of BC Hydro generating facilities and transmission. Included is a self-selecting Canadian-US directory of energy industry entities, including some manufacturers and consultants.
• Benton County PUD: The eastern Washington PUD has included portions of its annual report and financial updates under the About Benton PUD section, along with a history on the utility itself. Another area explains primary customer services and lists phone numbers for various payment assistance agencies. Another section describes the PUD's various efficiency programs while the Service Information section goes into greater detail on services such as inspections, removing meters, and policies on underground and overhead service.
• Benton REA: This rural Washington state co-op with headquarters in Prosser has the usual variety of REA power co-op services, but is also an Internet service provider for its members in small urban and rural areas of eastern Washington. Information on ISP accounts (PowerNET) can be found under the programs and services section.
• Big Bend Electric Co-op: Tucked away in Ritzville, eastern Washington, Big Bend can no doubt honestly describe itself to its customers as being their "family, friends and neighbors." There's a brief history, a section on rates and billing, info on the long distance telephone service the co-op offers, a service territory map, a links page, and a "What's New" page.
• Blachly-Lane County Cooperative Electric Assoc.: Blachly-Lane became the first REA-financed cooperative to operate in Oregon in 1937. Blachly-Lane's service area in western Lane County has five districts. The site is very informative. Pictures of the Board of Directors are available, but there is no direct contact information. To contact Blachly Lane go to the Contact Us section. Learn all you need to know about the REA by visiting the News & Events, About Us section and/or the FAQ. Information for customers is available in Customer Service, Programs & Services and under Consumer Tips.
• Bonneville Environmental Foundation: BEF is a nonprofit corporation which helps fund projects that develop environmentally preferred, renewable power and help facilitate the existence of fish and wildlife habitat in the Northwest. One of its goals is "over time to displace thermal generation resources in the Pacific Northwest with new, low environmental impact renewable energy resources." BEF derives its revenues from sharing in premiums realized on sales of "green" or environmentally preferred power (EPP), as well as from contributions solicited in the region's energy community and elsewhere. This unique organization, headed by former Power Planning Council member Angus Duncan, began in 1998 with a pledged inventory of 20 aMW of low-impact hydro and 0.75 aMW of wind from BPA. Klickitat PUD subsequently committed 1 aMW of landfill generation. All projects were endorsed as "low-environmental-impact" by the Northwest Energy Coalition, the Renewable Northwest Project, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. A portion of the premiums from each goes to BEF. Over a half dozen utilities and an aluminum smelter have agreed to purchase EPP. Over a half-dozen watershed restoration projects and a solar project have already been funded. This site gives a fairly comprehensive run down on the organization. There is recent news under Contact Us/News and links to the organizations newsletter.
  
• Bonneville Power Administration:  In addition to general information, the BPA site divides into About BPA, BPA News, Publications, Education, Jobs, Public Involvement, and Contact. The search box is very useful to navigate this enormous site. 
  
• Bonneville Power Administration OASIS: People looking to schedule transfer capability are referred to a list of BPA phone numbers. A very basic website with little information. Breaks down the OASIS node topics and links you back to BPA's Transmission Business Line.
  
• BPA Environment / Fish & Wildlife Group: This part of the BPA website focuses on the management of the environmental components of BPA's transmission, power sales and efficiency businesses. It offers documents, links and broad overviews of various areas such as strategy & analysis, pollution prevention and F&W.  The section on environmental planning/analysis has details on projects and management plans and links to journals and checklists.
  
• BPA Power Rate Case Record of Decision: If you're bored, lonely, or getting paid a lot by your clients, you can always come here, where BPA has posted its Power rate case record of decision. The entire thing is posted in a manageable fashion. Also available here are appendixes, summaries, rate sheets, studies and the risk analysis and mitigation models.
• British Columbia Legislative Assembly
• Buchal.com: James Buchal is, among other things, a Portland-based energy attorney who has worked for the Direct Service Industries on challenges to the BPA Business Plan EIS, power sales contracts, and IR transmission agreements for the DSIs (in all of which BPA's actions were upheld). Here he has posted briefs and other material related to some of his work, including some environmental and business litigation. He links to the law firm in which he is a partner with another DSI attorney, Paul Murphy. The site bills him as a "complex civil litigation specialist" and includes this description of his philosophy: "I am by nature a libertarian and particularly enjoy representing those who struggle against government bureaucrats abusing their discretion, even though the deck is stacked against them." You can also order a copy of his book, The Great Salmon Hoax at this site.
• Burbank Utilities: The page of Southern California's Burbank Municipal Utility carries the utility's rules and regulations for electrical service, including policies and rates. Featured on the main page are: online and phone bill paying, the Home Energy Analyzer, a free shade tree program for Burbank residents, and how Burbank residents can manage their services online.
  
• Bureau of Reclamation--Power Resources Office: BuRec, which operates many projects in the Columbia/Snake Basin, offers a website carrying quite a bit of information, including specs and photos of all its projects and a map showing where they are. It includes some policy documents and the agency's newsletter. There's also a useful list of contacts for personnel at each project (address and phone number only) and the agency's representatives at FERC and the WSCC. Hardware people are also served with links to BuRec's National Performance Review Laboratory and its Infrastructure Service page, which focuses on electrical/mechanical design and testing capabilities.

C

• California Energy Commission Restructuring Page:  "Under restructuring, the California Energy Commission was directed by the Legislature to deal with restructuring's impacts on renewable energy; energy research, development and demonstration (RD&D) programs; create a retail electricity disclosure program; and hold proceedings focussing on information access." This website links you to the websites dealing with restructuring's impacts.
  
• California ISO: As the controller of the state's power grid, the California Independent System Operator says its mission is to "foster competition, provide consumer choice, and offer safe and reliable service." As pointed out at this site, there is a lot to know about the California ISO and there is plenty of information here to get you started. There are sections on system conditions, voluntary load reduction program, operations reports, flex your power (where you can learn about conservation programs and tips), news releases, compliance reports, environmental initiatives, and speakers' bureau & tours.
• Canadian Association for Renewable Energies: Another way to keep up on the Canadian renewable scene is through this organization. Basic news and publications can be had through free access. An annual fee gets you more.
• Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc.: Canadian green resource development doesn't get a lot of attention in the US Northwest, but it probably should. One source of activity is Canadian Hydro, which often reiterates its commitment "to the concept of low-impact power generation." CHDI develops wind, run-of-river hydro, and gas-fired facilities. The Calgary-based company has issued a slew of news releases of late, most reflecting its aggressive wheeling and dealing in low impact power plant resources. The site lists the company's plants and is geared towards its investors.
• Chelan County PUD: Chelan PUD bills itself as the owner/operator of the nation's second largest non-federal, publicly owned hydro generating system, and its website features the heart of this claim: the Rocky Reach, Rock Island and Lake Chelan hydroelectric projects, complete with summary data project specifications, history, licenses, and power sales contracts. The same can be found for the PUD's water and wastewater infrastructure. The Fish & Wildlife and Environmental pages carry descriptions of some of the specific issues facing the PUD. Other pages offer a list of PUD parks, some organizational info, short descriptions of customer services, somewhat more extensive renditions of the residential, industrial and commercial programs, and text on the utility's education programs and tourist opportunities. There is a search utility and a page listing the many videotapes and publications that are available.
• City of Richland: Part of a larger municipal site, these pages offer only the barest essentials on a few topics, including conservation, billing policies and a complete rate card.
• City of Soda Springs: Not really the utility, but the city's webpage. Forgivable, since the Idaho muni has only about 1700 customers.
• Clallam County PUD No. 1: Clallam PUD's website content is limited, but it is one of the only PUDs in the region that posts minutes from commission meetings. The other features are a list of staff, pictures of the commissioners and e-mail contact info.
  
• Clark Public Utilities: Clark Public Utilities' website has an excellent variety of information about the utility and its programs. The web page is declared to be "another means of sharing information with our customers." It has nine sections with information of interest to the energy community, as well as to the utility's customers.
• Clearwater Power Co.: Clearwater has the unusual distinction of serving about 5,000 square miles in three different states--Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The site gives some history, summaries of its many power and community programs, outage and safety tips, a promo for its subsidiary, the Clearwater Propane Co. and a news page.
• Columbia Basin Fish & Wildlife Authority: CBFWA members are state and federal fish & wildlife agencies, Indian tribes and their tribal coordinating entities. It functions as central spot for these entities to coordinate activities with respect to Northwest Power Planning Council fish and wildlife programs. The site is actually that of the CBFW Foundation, which manages the Authority's activities. Both entities are very briefly described. A F&W calendar with limited information on each entry is available. A staff directory with email service is available. In addition to a list of CBFWA members and hot links to the several with web pages, the CBFWA website has a useful directory of people and organizations "with whom we have regular contact" that includes addresses, phone and fax numbers and, in most cases, active links. There's a separate list of links to "related organizations."
  
• Columbia River PUD: The region's most recently energized PUD serves 16,000 in east Columbia County, OR. The site has a page with a brief history, photos of the commissioners and a rate card. Offers detailed information on the PUD's various energy services, an economic profile of the county including data on industrial sites, a section for PUD news, press releases and commission meetings and a page from the engineers on power quality and substations.
• Consumers Power, Inc.: This page offers some basic information aimed at businesses looking to expand or relocate in Consumers service territory.
• Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative, Inc.:This page offers some basic information aimed at businesses looking to expand or relocate in Coos-Curry service territory.

D

• Damagotchi: If you've been caught too often playing solitaire on your computer at work, BC Hydro has solution for you. Tell the boss you're working on a new model of the hydro system. Damagotchi is gives you a hydro project, a school of fish and a bunch of customers. Your job: keep the customers happy, the fish alive and the reservoir level sufficient for as long as possible.
  
• Douglas Electric Cooperative: Douglas Co-op maintains a modest presence on the web that revolves principally around its economic development affiliate, the Oregon Development Group, a group of electric and telephone co-ops. Most of the data on this site is really aimed at people looking to do business in the state of Oregon, not at people interested in a detailed profile of Douglas Electric. There is a profile of the Co-op's service area and an extensive rendition of the satellite TV programming options available through Douglas Services, a Co-op subsidiary affiliated with the RuralTV network. There are links to the other ODG member websites.
• Douglas PUD: This site includes updates on the work of each board meeting, job listings, blurbs on the commissioners, info on Wells Dam and its recreational opportunities, an environmental issues page, a links page and pages on local communities.

E

• Economic Insight Inc.: Portland-based Economic Insight, Inc. (EII) "specializes in economic analysis and litigation support related to energy markets." It boasts a slate of experts, headed by president Sam A. Van Vactor. At this site, you can read about the firm, its key consultants and publications. You can even sign up for a free two-week trial subscription to EII's Energy Market Report, a daily report on prices for pre-scheduled power transactions, and data on generation unit outages in the Western and Midwestern markets. There's also a list of some of EII's recent clients and info on its system support product, "a sophisticated computer system for data management and analysis."
• Edmonton Power Corporation: This very customer-friendly site has information on how to save money and manage your bills. Also under the Customers section is information for contractors, industrial clients and power producers. There are pages on how to read one's bill, the utility's business development program, educational programs, extensive material on environmental/sustainable development projects, and a media room
• Electricity Journal and Daily: The excellent and respected Electricity Journal and its Electricity Daily offshoot now have a home page touted as a "site of the foremost publications covering the policy issues and breaking news affecting the electricity industry world wide." Only subscribers can access Electricity Daily's text. However any browser can enter the "Wizard's Corner," a venue for "comments, opinion and analysis by industry sages." There is also real-time access to a wide range of energy-related requests for proposals (RFPs) as well as a set of interactive cost comparisons of tariff data sheets of over half of the country's largest utilities.
• ElectricNet Newspage: There are a number of sources for electric industry news on the Web, not least of all the one you are now in, NewsData's Enernet. Unlike this one, most tend to simply regurgitate press releases; some are free, some charge for some services and most have a mix of both. There does not yet appear to be a comprehensive compilation--a one-stop source for all free, web-published electric utility news, but Electricnet has got a start. There are glaring omissions, which is to be expected. But this page on their site offers mostly working links to about dozen news sources offering the browser a solid start on gathering national energy news for free.
• Emerald People's Utility District: A bright emerald-colored website for Emerald PUD includes information of the PUD's rates, its board of directors and the Short Mountain methane power plant project. Other sections focus on community involvement and the utility's award-winning and energy efficient headquarters building in Eugene.
• Energy Future Prices: A feature of Swift Energy's website, this is a one-page listing links to sources of different kinds of energy prices, such as Bloomberg the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
• EnergyIdeas Clearinghouse: EnergyIdeas.org is operated by the Washington State University Extension Program to provide information on energy technologies, programs, and practices for Northwest utility customers. The Ask an Expert service is available to commercial and industrial sector customers. The website has useful and objective residential information. The website includes online publications, organization links, software and other tools, Q & As, Jobs database and an Events Calendar for Northwest energy professionals. Topics include: codes, HVAC, motors, electrotechnologies, Lighting, Appliances, Renewables, Power Factor. Site includes a page of resources for utility conservation staff: www.EnergyIdeas.org/utility.
• Energy Information Administration: EIA takes the map approach. It has refined categories to describe the status of deregulation in each state. For each state, EIA has composed a blurb on regulatory activity, legisative action, pilot programs and stranded costs. It is the only state-by-state restructuring website that takes a stab at tracking whether stranded costs are addressed and what the approach is.
• Energy Northwest (Formerly WPPSS): Organized by publicly-owned Washington utilities to finance, build and operate generation and transmission facilities, Energy Northwest operates the Northwest's only nuclear plant and the 27.5 MW Packwood Hydroelectric project. The corporate info page includes a brief chronological history of WPPSS, a list of outstanding bond issues, management and board member names, and some annual report info. Board meetings but not agenda are posted, along with news releases.
  
• Energyguide.com: An interesting site where you enter your zip code and seasonal energy bills to see if it can find you a better deal. Aimed at states in which deregulation is already underway, of course. Also steers people to energy-efficiency products.
• Energysearch: This site has been posted by the Electric Power Research Institute, which bills it as "the premier Internet search engine for the energy industry"; a response to concerns of energy folks who were "often overwhelmed by their [conventional Internet] search results and frustrated at not getting the specific information they needed." Such a claim invites a challenge, of course. The search utility, faced with the reasonably arcane energy topic of the "Canadian Entitlement," did manage quickly to return a more or less relevant series of documents from the NW Power Planning Council, BPA, FERC, Tacoma City Light, NewsData (publisher of this here Enernet) and BC Hydro. It didn't do as well with "loop flow," but nor was is cowed by terms such as "gas bubble disease," "pump cavitation," "pancake rates" or even "neutron embrittlement."
  
• EPIS: EPIS Inc. is a Lake Oswego, OR-based corporation "formed for the purpose of providing value-added market information and services to customers who buy and sell power or own assets in the electric power markets." Its featured product is Aurora, a computer model used to forecast electric energy prices, determine resource values, calculate power costs and quantify risk. A version of a 24-image slide presentation on the company and its product is also online.
• Eugene Water & Electric Board: EWEB has put together a comprehensive site that reflects its active presence in the Northwest utility picture. Among the items included are board agenda and minutes, EWEB's organizational structure, a list of its advisors and consultants and names and position of commissioners and management. EWEB provides a refreshingly large amount of information about its projects, rates and resources, including a list of its diverse portfolio of suppliers and the amount supplied. Current and archived editions of its quarterly newsletter, Pipeline, are online. It also has sections on electric deregulation, power outages, billing questions and conservation (of both water and electricity).

F

• Fall River Cooperative: Ashton, Idaho-based Fall River has the distinction of serving customers in three states-Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. It has nearly 1800 miles of distribution line and about 10,000 members, nearly half of them "seasonal." The site has info about profit sharing, other member information, a list of products and services that includes satellite TV and cellular phones, outage and billing data, and editions of the co-op newsletter available in Adobe PDF format, Fall River Flashes.
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Although the commission has recently improved its website, the old needle/haystack approach still applies when searching for useful information at FERC. The site contains info about the agency's various regulatory responsibilities in the areas of hydropower, electricity, and natural gas; bios of the commissioners; an organizational chart with titles but not names and a list of "key contacts."
• Federal Power Marketing Subscription: This page resides on BPA's website. Sponsored by BPA and the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee, it tracks the biweekly meetings being held in line with the Regional Review's recommendation for the development of post-2001 BPA power sales contracts. Documents available include introductory letters, meeting notes, the preliminary list of issues, the draft work plan, the NEPA strategy and the public involvement plan.
  
• Federal Project Status Web Page: This BPA site contains a Northwest map with the 14 largest federal hydro projects (and WNP-2) whose power is marketed by BPA. Information on the generating capacity and in service date of each unit is posted; these projects account for about 90 percent of the FCRPS' output. There is also a list of the smaller projects with less detailed data. This is the 'external' version of this page; BPA employees can access operational data such as unit outages and projected online dates that the agency considers proprietary. The public page also has a helpful "federal projects definition list" and weekly and historic precipitation, runoff, reservoir storage and streamflow data. This website complements that of the Bureau of Reclamation's Power Program, and the Army Corp's Hydroelectric Design Center, which also offer informational but not operational data on all their respective projects, including those in the Northwest.
• Flathead Electric Cooperative: Includes a general introduction, explanation of bill and meter reading policies (including pricing schedules), short descriptions of program and service offerings, a customer choice section that includes the Transition Plan the co-op adopted under Montana's deregulation legislation, a little bit on the board of trustees and a current events page with letters from the manager, co-op news and operational updates.
• Foundation for Water & Energy Education: The Foundation "is committed to providing balanced information regarding the use of water as a renewable energy resource in the Northwest." Sponsoring members included BPA and public and private utilities such as Avista, the Mid-Columbia PUDs, Pend Oreille PUD, EWEB, Tacoma, PacifiCorp, PGE and the US Department of Energy. Contributors include BuRec, Harza Engineering, Hydro Review and Stoel Rives. The site includes a map and "interactive" directory of NW hydroelectric projects, an impressive collection of NW hydropower newspaper articles neatly divided into categories such as deregulation and relicensing, a "hydro tour" and sections on education and environment. A number of sections make up a sort of NW hydro primer, with briefs on ownership, regulation and a glossary. A short list of educational products is also available.
• Franklin PUD: Franklin PUD has a comprehensive, well organized site here. There are different pages with blurbs on the PUD's various services, access to the bi-monthly newsletter and more importantly, recent board minutes, a PUD primer with brief bios of board members and contact data. Franklin has also posted all its rate schedules.

G

• Glacier Electric: Contains a section on contacting Glacier Electric, a listing of their Board of Directors, a rate schedule and by-laws. There is also an employee only section.
  
• Grand Coulee Dam: Apparently a labor of love, Charles Hubbard, who is in no way associated with the Bureau of Reclamation, has created this site offering details on the largest concrete structure in the USA. It has a historical narrative, a photo gallery, data on the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project (which is fed from Grand Coulee’s Lake Roosevelt), some general information about hydroelectric generation emphasizing Grand Coulee, a creatively presented bibliography and a unique list of links to other dams with webpages and hydroelectric sites.
• Grant County PUD: Grant PUD's site has photos and short informative blurbs on its four generating projects--Priest Rapids (907 MW), Wanapum (1038 MW), Quincy Chute (9.4 MW) and the Potholes East Canal Headworks (6.5 MW). An equivalent parcel of data is available on the PUD's electric system, which consists of 3,557 miles of transmission and distribution lines and 38 substations. There is also annual report type prose on the utility's energy requirements and projected retail sales. Rate schedules are not presented. Pictures of the commissioners and PUD manager are accompanied by brief bios of each.
• Grays Harbor PUD: GHPUD serves the area where WNP 3/5 were built and is involved in the transfer of those properties to benefit the county's economic development efforts. Grays Harbor, along with Benton and Franklin PUDs is a part owner of Power Resource Managers, a power marketing firm.

H

• Hydrocomp Inc.: Hydrocomp, of Menlo Park, CA, develops hydrologic simulation software. It "has its origins" in mathematical modeling research done at Standford University in the 1960s. It's featured product, the Hydrologic Simulation Program in FORTRAN (HSPF) models water quality and quantity in a watershed and, according to the site, is recommended by EPA as "the most accurate and appropriate management tool available" for this purpose. The Forecast and Analysis Modeling system is designed to ease streamflow forecasting and analysis of reservoir operations. The site includes a "Hydrologic Journal" that has a number of short essays, as well as sections dealing specifically with hydroelectric plants. You can download a free copy of the "Reservoir Game" to test your multi-purpose reservoir management skills.

I

• Ida-West Energy Company: Ida-West, a wholly owned subsidiary of Idaho Power, develops, constructs, finances, owns and operates independent power generation facilities. Existing facilities produced over 260,000 MWh in 1996, most of which was sold to Idaho Power and PG&E. The site includes a list of these projects, along with pictures and stats. Press releases and executive bios with pictures are also posted.
• Idaho Falls: Another Idaho muni with a website focusing on the town, rather than the electric division. But buried in the city administration page, the utility does pop up, offering its mission statement, emergency preparedness guidelines and a rate card.
• Idaho Legislature:
• Idaho Power: Idaho Power's web page was the first open, general information utility company site in the Pacific Northwest. The site identifies the company as "a progressive, environmentally responsible, investor-owned electric utility based in Boise." In addition to statistical information about the company, news releases and employment opportunities, the site provides five sections of special interest: Solar Energy & Photovoltaic Systems; Stellar Dynamics, Electric Utility Control Technology Services; Parks & Recreation (e.g. IPC's Hells Canyon park system); Contract Services and Custom Generation Services." An interesting feature is a profile of Idaho Power executives.
• Idaho Public Utilities Commission: The Idaho PUC, the first energy regulatory body in the Pacific Northwest to go on the web, presents a well-organized page with general information and regulatory documents. Included are meeting agendas and two archives--agendas and minutes and utility orders & notices. Biographies of PUC commissioners are included.
• Idaho Rivers United: IRU is a statewide, non-profit river conservation group devoted to the protection of Idaho's rivers, streams and riparian areas and the recovery of Idaho's wild salmon and steelhead. The site has sections on protecting free flowing rivers, instream flow problems around the state, and background information on Idaho salmon and steelhead . Also included are IRU's press releases, monitoring implementation, information on hydroelectric project relicensings the organization is working on, an outline of formal river protection procedures and a list of Idaho's protected rivers. It also has the text of IRU's newsletter, connections to help members keep up on legislative matters and to contact their legislators, and various links, including the State of Idaho's daily update on state river flows and several fishing guides from both governmental and private sources.

K

• Kaiser Aluminum: The website of Kaiser, which claims five facilities in Washington state (Trentwood, Tacoma, and three at Mead) including two smelters and a sheet and plate mill, offers an archive of company press releases and an overview that carries a business profile, a world-wide list of Kaiser's operations and the company's environmental policy. The operations page has profiles of its business units and major facilities, while the financial section offers recent quarterly statements.
• Klickitat PUD: A reasonably comprehensive website with info about its various services, folksy bios of the commissioners, meditations and messages from the GM, and even a synopsis of the PUD's new agreement with Goldendale Aluminum. Also includes a good chunk of data on the PUD's electric rates. Sections on Klickitat's landfill gas plant, McNary dam and SCADA systems. 
  
• Kootenai Electric Co-op: The Co-op's website has very brief sections on energy services, personnel and safety tips. Recent press releases and text from the utility's newsletter are on line.

L

• Lane Electric Cooperative: Lane's site offers members about a brochure's worth of basic information. There's the manager's report, a photo of the directors, a brief description of payment, member assistance and capital credits programs, and a list of the energy service department's services, some safety tips and a set of links.
• Large Public Power Council: Of interest here mainly because four of its 21 members are Northwest consumer-owned utilities, namely, Snohomish PUD, Chelan PUD, Tacoma Power and Seattle City Light. LPPC works with its members, who serve over 40 million customers in 12 states, to develop and advance "consumer-oriented positions on national energy issues." The site has history and stats on public power; position statements, testimony, press releases and proposed legislation on various energy topics; glossaries reports and links.
• Lethbridge Power: This Alberta municipal utility site has a lot of data. The directory has phone and fax numbers as well as email for many personnel. There is also access to a page the utility sponsors to expand awareness of community mental health issues, and a links page that includes connections to other city offices.
• Lincoln Electric Cooperative: LEC offers a no non-sense web page aimed at customers. There's a history of the co-op, a list of its publications, information on new installations and outages, the capital credits program, brief summaries of the efficiency, billing and other services offered, a list of how much electricity various appliances use and a detailed iteration of the utility's rate schedules.
• Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP): LADWP, with a work force in excess of 9,000 and providing water and electricity to some 3.5 million customers, is the largest municipally-owned utility in the nation. It's website is mainly a compilation of data on its business, energy and water services. It includes a lengthy profile of the utility itself, comprehensive financial data, blurbs on policy practices and special interests (e.g. minority vendor certification, fiber optics) and areas aimed at helping customers with billing, conservation and other matters. There's data on the utility's community and assistance services as well as a gateway to Los Angeles websites in general (including traffic and weather updates). Recent press releases are on line.
• Low Impact Hydro Institute: LIHI, once of Berkeley but now based in Washington DC, is the low-key organization convened by American Rivers and Green Mountain Energy Resources and composed of dam owners, power marketers, environmental and hydropower reform organizations aimed at recognizing environmentally benign hydro resources. Its goal was to create a "low impact hydropower certification program to certify hydropower facilities that are well-sited and well-operated in accordance with objective and scientific environmental standards." It took two years to establish. The Fall River Rural Electric Co-op of eastern Idaho sought certification for its Island Park project from LIHI. LIHI is one of four green power certification program that takes on hydro. Some of the others: the Environmental Choice EcoLogo Program, the Environmentally Preferable Electricity program, and the Green-e Renewable Electricity Certification program.
• Lower Yellowstone Rural Electric Association: Includes a brief profile, info on how to get connected, a rate card, a summary of services, and an email-enabled staff list.

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• Mason County PUD 3: The PUD's website is aimed principally at its customers. It offers the PUD's rate schedules, its mission statement, very brief bios on the three commissioners, and an equally brief history of the utility. It offers information on how to go about establishing new connections or altering current service and explanations of billing practices. There is a brief sketch of the PUD's conservation services, emergency advice on what to do in case of power outages or downed lines and even information on job openings.
• McCone Electric Co-op, Inc.: Offers a company profile, information on customer service programs, a rate card, a co-op news section, electric safety tips and a short links page.
• McMinnville Power & Light: McMinnville recently went on-line with this site. The utility is developing a digital network, and you can read about here. The city has posted a fair amount of background material on telecom stuff, other relevant legislation and public statements, as well as links to a number of other federal and private source material. There's a brief utility history, a rate card and info on various services such as energy loans and home energy audits, but nothing about the utility's finances or its board meetings.
• Mesa (AZ) Electric Utility: The Mesa city site includes information on the electric utility department and the separate water, waste water and gas utility.
• Midstate Electric Cooperative: This site offers an about us section, information on products and services, customer service, news and contact information.
  
• Missoula Electric Cooperative: The Co-op's website talks a little about itself and the co-op philosophy, and then focuses on customer services. It gives data on applying for membership, new service construction, a rate schedule and the names and districts of its trustees. It has very brief descriptions of its services and programs, plus special sections on building an energy efficient home, ground source heat pumps, and heating and cooling efficiency
• Modern Electric Water Company: This 90-plus-year-old Spokane-based water and electric co-op has posted a useful site for its 9,400 electric customers. They've included their annual report, their rate schedule, and a news page that carries their newsletter and "special bulletins." There's an online discussion forum and, more significantly, a consumer service guide composed in FAQ format.
  
• Modesto Irrigation District: The Web site for this central California water and electric utility includes program and historical information on the district. It has a Board section that includes pictures, but little communication information beyond that.
• Montana Electric Cooperative Association: This site for MECA, a group of 25 distribution co-ops and three G&Ts offers very brief overviews of what it's about and what it does. There's a list of MECA staff and MECA board members, archives, text from the internal newsletter, an events calendar and highlights from the monthly publication Rural Montana, complete with recipes. Not all members have websites, but those that do are accessible from a color-coded map on the links page.
• Montana Legislature:
• Montana Public Service Commission: The Montana PSC site carries the commission's agenda sorted by regulatory division, as well as a convenient list of its staff, also by division, with phone numbers and, for many personnel, direct email connections. There are bios, photos and email links to the five commissioners. An added bonus is an archive of commission minutes going several years back. The system is designed to allow the user to locate the text of orders and dockets through a set of utilities in which hearing dates, order and docket numbers can all be cross referenced. There's also some brief consumer information, highlights from the annual report and links to other state utility regulatory agencies.
• Morrison & Foerster: Energy Litigation: We include this merely because it is unique: a law firm using the web to promote its energy and energy litigation sections, complete with descriptions of selected recent cases. Another section covers its project development team, emphasizing finance and development of electric generating facilities.

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• National Regulatory Research Institute: Probably the most useful source of up-to-date infomation on infrastructure research issues available for free on the web. NRRI was created at Ohio State University by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Really quite useful and well organized.
• National Rural Electric Cooperative Association: NRECA offers browsers of its site two ways to track state restructuring. One is a chart with four columns, the first being a list of the states. The following three columns are labeled legislative," "regulatory" and "comment" and each contains one or two sentences on the existence of bills, lawsuits or commission rulings.
• Nespelem Valley Electric Cooperative: A folksy site with a homespun feel. Covers all the basics without much pretense. Information on all board members and staff (but nothing about board meetings); brief essays on topics such as deregulation and "attacks on public power;" summaries of programs offered, conservation, and blurbs on history and mission, as well as the "Seven Cooperative Principles."
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: The Ninth, where many Northwest energy policy disputes often end up, was one of the last Circuit Court of Appeals to get on the web. This site is very useful for interested parties that are not formal participants or interveners, as you don't have to know an attorney to get a copy of an opinion, or pay some exorbitant copying fee. You can also search for cases by name of both the first and second party.
  
• North American Electric Reliability Council: Formed in the aftermath of a huge 1968 power outage, NERC, in its own words, helps electric utilities and suppliers to "work together to keep the lights on. It does this by reviewing the past for lessons learned, monitoring the present for compliance with policies, standards, principles, and guides, and assessing the future reliability of the bulk electric systems." The website has detailed information about NERC committees, regional councils, operating & planning standards, publications and system conditions. Quite a lot of usual information can be found here--nuclear plant status reports, recent outages, seasonal reliability assessments, just to name a few. The "NERC Fast Links" section allows one to pick from yet another broad array of topics.
• Northeast Midwest Institute: The group is "a Washington DC-based, private, non-profit, and non-partisan research organization dedicated to economic vitality, environmental quality, and regional equity for Northeast and Midwest states." It boasts both a 36-member Senate Coalition. The Congressional Coalition's work in support of market-based rates for federal power marketing agencies has often been cited in the Northwest as among the "outside" threats the region faces if it fails to come up with its own regional restructuring, or "regionalization" plan. The website has several sections of interest to the electricity sector, one on "Energy" that has subsections for efficiency, innovation and NE-MW reports, the last of which is a repository for a number of more detailed policy works; and another labeled "Federal Utilities," which has links to various anti-PMA screeds in the form of reports and congressional testimony.
• Northern Lights Inc: Provides information on basic service, including a rate card, a current news section and a "library" of utility-related essays.
• Northwest Aluminum Company: One of BPA's big direct service industry (DSI) customers, this site offers a brief history of the company, located at The Dalles, OR, and some data on its Direct Forge, 6069 alloy and other products. There are also sections on Operations, Quality,and R&D. NW Aluminum is owned by Goldendale Northwest Aluminum Inc., which also owns the Goldendale Aluminum Co. smelter across the river in Klickitat County, WA. All GNA Inc. stock is held by Brett Wilcox.
• Northwest Energy Coalition: (formerly, Northwest Conservation Act Coalition) The site from the region's senior environmental and conservation activist group includes an "activist toolkit," membership list, salmon/energy news snippets, and the text of some documents relevant to NEW's interests. NEW press releases are archived as well as a large selection of articles from the group's newsletter, the Northwest Energy Coalition Report. There is also a good cross-section of links. NEW is described as "a region-wide alliance of environmental organizations, consumer advocates, human service agencies, businesses, civic groups and progressive utilities." They "seek the best possible implementation of the far-reaching progressive goals of the Northwest Conservation Act."
• Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance: The Alliance was formed in 1996 to "bring about significant and lasting changes in markets for energy-efficient technologies and practices, to improve the region's efficient use of energy and reduce costs to consumers and the electric system." It is funded by BPA and six of the Northwest's large investor-owned utilities. At this site, you can see how much each contributes and learn more about the Alliance's structure, members, projects and resources. Minutes of meetings are also posted.
• Northwest Energy Review Transition Board: The Transition Board was charged with implementation of the Comprehensive Review and was in place from 1997 to 1999. The page devoted to its activities is nested within the Northwest Power Planning Council's website.
  
• Northwest Hydroelectric Association: "Dedicated to the promotion of the region's waterpower potential as a clean, efficient, renewable resource," NWHA (not to be confused with the National Hydropower Association) site lists coming events and a long list of news sources with varying concentrations of regional hydro news. There's a legislative page, and a page on hydro regulation. There is also a link with relevant recent reports or updates from the Stoel Rives law firm, mostly on ESA issues and an online copy of the Federal Caucus' 4-H paper.
• Northwest Natural Gas Company: NNG has established its presence on the World Wide Web with a site offering descriptions of the company and consumer tips. For example, the "about us" section has pages on company history and a letter from President and CEO Richard Reiten. The residential section has pages on rate & cost comparisons, equipment & appliances and customer services. There are separate pages designed for industrial and commercial customers, and an investors' page that has some data but offers a link to SEC's EDGAR system for downloading documents such as the annual report or 10-K. There are several pages on safety tips and access to recent press releases.
• Northwest Pipeline: NW Pipe's site, the only gas industry site discovered so far in the Power Pool area, is a section of the parent Williams Companies home page. The site includes financial information on NW Pipe's sales volumes and profits. Also provided is information on capacity additions and transportation, the regulatory environment, NW Pipe's competitive position and "business outlook."
• Northwest Power Planning Council: NWPPC's site has four major content options: a description of the Council, including biographical sketches and pictures of council members; a Get Involved invitation to get council publications; a calendar of meetings; and a Major Issues section. The latter is divided into Power Topics and Fish & Wildlife Topics. Power includes the Council's current power plan and explanatory text on the comprehensive Regional Review. Recent news releases are also available.
• Northwest Power Pool: The NWPP is a group of the larger generating utilities in the Northwest, BC and Alberta. Its mission is to promote reliable operation of the electric power system, coordinate power system planning, and assist in the planning of transmission within the Northwest Interconnected Area. The website is devote almost solely to listing who is on what committee. It shows which utility is on what committee, and the name of both the representative and alternate for each. There are also separate lists of the entire NWPP membership and their committee assignments, as well as the names of NWPP board members. Convenient links are provided for those members with their own websites. There is a brief historical blurb, direct email links to NWPP staff, and some miscellaneous links.
• Northwest Public Power Association: NWPPA is an association of 160 public power utilities in 10 western states, Alaska and three western Canadian provinces. Programs offered to members include training and education, communications and publications and survey information. It also arranges trips to Washington DC to help members make contact with government officials. Its website has pages describing its various programs, a links page and email links to NWPPA personnel.
• Northwest River Forecast Center: One of 13 National Weather Service hydrologic centers in the United States, the NWRFC "specializes in flood and water resource forecasting, river modeling, and hydrologic system development." Here, you can check on short- and long-term forecasts ("hydrologic products"), historical flood information and browse the Center's special projects and recent papers on hydrologic modeling.

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• OASIS Users Forum: The American Public Power Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Assoc. received a DOE grant to develop this site, designed "to educate and coordinate transmission customers, especially public power utilities and electric cooperatives, on the mechanics of participating in the restructured electric industry." The project is focusing on OASIS; intended to be a center for coordinating OASIS training workshops, an OASIS users group, assisting transmission customers in their participation in an OASIS management organization and providing a general clearinghouse for OASIS users.
• Oregon Legislature:
• Oregon Office of Energy: The Department offers a searchable site summarizing its services. One area describes energy programs for businesses, while another delineates programs for schools and government agencies. There is a section on the department's energy resources and facilities siting & regulation aspects that includes much of the information developers need to apply for a new project, text of Oregon's energy laws and regulations, and substantial amounts of related information. For individuals, there is a section on home conservation and alternative energy systems, and even a section on the state's nuclear safety issues vis a vis Hanford. The section on telecommuting and transportation talks of special incentive programs for telecommuters and alternative fuel vehicles. Current event data is found in the What's New and News Releases areas. The staff list is refreshingly complete in that it offers names, titles, phone numbers and email addresses.
• Oregon Public Utility Commission: The OPUC posts its regular public meeting agenda, notice of public meetings and consent agenda. One can also view all the orders entered in the current year. The site includes extensive text on its annual objectives for each of its utility areas and administrative services. There is a list of the commissioners and top managers with phone numbers.
  
• Oregon PUD Association: At OPUDA’s site, a browser can find details on the six Oregon PUDs and read some Oregon PUD history and enabling statutes. There are brief separate discussions on energy supply, the differences between public and private power, instructions on how to form, annex or consolidate a PUD and even on how to dissolve one.
• Our Wind Co-op is a cooperative of small-scale wind turbines on farms, ranches and public and private facilities across the Northwest. Their site has a very informative Coop FAQ, a section on turbine profiles, green tags, and other resources.

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• Pacific Gas and Electric: (formerly PGT/Pacific Gas Transmission):The emphasis of the welcome page to PG&E is on paying your bills, although there is plenty of other information. This includes customer service, news and information. Financial information for investors and a section on the corporation itself with a list of officers.
• PacifiCorp: The open site for the public is called "PacifiCorp Energy Planet" and has a range of useful information to the energy industry and to shareholders, investors and customers. It has a key contacts section.
  
• PacifiCorp OASIS: A very useful OASIS node. Information on services, transmission, registration and tariff/company  can be found. Broken down into several sections it is easy to navigate. Useful and current news is linked to on the front page.
• Palo Alto Utility: The city of Palo Alto electric utility is included in the city's home page under a general discussion of all utility systems maintained by the city. A relatively narrow band of information, aimed at customers, is available.
• Pend Oreille PUD: Pend Oreille, located in Washington's northeast corner, has production, distribution and water divisions, the first in charge of power from the Box Canyon and Calispel hydroelectric projects. It has taken on telecommunications big time, complete with a page on recent developments in the state legislature and links to write your representatives. A whole separate page is devoted to fiber optics, including a map of fiber lines in the county. There is the usual stuff as well, such as a products & services page and links. Pend Oreille's news page is notable, as it has separate pointers for newsletters, commission news (including commission agenda and archived minutes), hydro relicense updates, and general press releases. The site also has a photo gallery.
• Peninsula Light Company: Peninsula's put together a nice little site, well organized, with blurbs on its mission, history and a deregulation essay. There isn't much on management, finances or board meetings, however, and no rate card. But you can look for a job or see a list of all the various awards the co-op has won over the years. One unique feature is a calendar of workshops aimed at members on relevant topics such as surge protectors, generator safety, etc. You can also check out the newsletter.
• Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative: This co-op serves parts of California and Nevada. It's website is aimed at customers. It has brief summaries of its payment options, reliability, renewable energy and energy efficiency. It has sections on communications offerings including Internet services and satellite TV.
• PNUCC: PNUCC was formed in 1946 as a "voluntary, informal organization of public and private utilities to assess regional power supply in the West Group Forecast and to support federal appropriations for power projects in the region." Here, it has posted its board of directors, a member directory, its annual report and a short blurb on its history. The featured item is the annual Northwest Regional Forecast, all or parts of which can be downloaded or viewed on line.
• Portland General Electric: PGE's site opens to a main page with links to institutional information, service questions on line, job opportunities, commercial power service and finances. The stylish site emphasizes the utility's demand-side management programs. The site is very well indexed.
• Portland General Electric (OASIS): OASIS node. Standard limited access but plenty of information once accessed.
  
• PowerLytix: Provides wholesale energy price forecasts to 50 of the leading entities trading in the WECC power and gas markets.
• Power Pool of Alberta: Since beginning operations Jan. 1 1996, the Alberta pool has proven to be a very volatile market. Both exporters and the six distribution utilities in Alberta purchase power from the pool, whose task is to match demand with supply at the lowest cost possible, updating the price every hour. The website has background material on the pool, an operations schedule, and relevant business documents such as the Pool's code of practice, a manual for participants, info on how to register and the pool rules so participants don't slip up. It also carries statistical reports on pool activities along with the current day's load and price data.
• Power Resource Managers: PRM is a Bellevue-based power supply and power management consultant. Areas of expertise include power supply alternatives, cost management, resource procurement and operation, contract negotiations, scheduling and dispatch and market participation. It does not market or broker power in its own name, but operates "as an extension of its clients’ staff." The website explains PRM’s services, offers access to its newsletter and gives background on its principal staff. Their links page offers some unusual electric humor sites.
• Public Power Council: PPC represents over a 100 Northwest PUDs, munis and co-ops, most of which rely on BPA for all or the bulk of their power. This is an informative site, offering a genuine perspective on where things stand in Northwest electricity. The site includes a page with some historical context and brief but concise summaries of basic topics and current trends, along with an area to order copies of the invaluable Public Power Fundamentals, the only real text-length primer on Northwest electricity. The Current Issues section focuses on the PPC's activities with a monthly list of executive committee discussion topics, issue updates and miscellaneous tidbits. The legislative page offers links to the text of pending federal legislation, but no annotations or data on where the bills' stand. There is also an effort to summarize legislation in the four Northwest states. In addition, there's a separate calendar page, a list of staff with email links, and a list of publicly-owned utilities in the Northwest.
• Public Service New Mexico: Public Service New Mexico (PNM) is a combined gas & electric utility serving more than one million people across New Mexico, noted as "one of the fastest growing parts of the country." The information on the website includes an investor page, a profile that includes a service area map, PNM business unit descriptions and New Mexico economic information.
• Public Utility Home Page: Attorney Scott Rubin has put together an excellent indexing page for public utilities, including electric, natural gas, telecommunications and water. It has won an award from Point, the Internet ranking agency, and well deserves that accolade. It has a variety of useful links at the national level and is a good place to begin any electric or gas utility web search.
• Puget Power OASIS: Puget's node has sections on obtaining service, pricing information, and downloading the OA service tariff, as well as a detailed description of the OASIS and minutia on Puget's reservation and scheduling windows, path information and TTC information. Actual hourly, daily and monthly offerings are password protected.
• Puget Sound Energy: The site includes an "Energy Advisor," a section called "About Your Account" but which really just has general billing information, and buttons for residential and business products with some information, but mostly referrals to phone numbers or handbooks one can order. There's a news & financial page with archives press releases and a search utility. The section on "PSE in the Community" has an unusual feature-the company's guidelines for contributions and a write up on the application process. There's also a service territory map.

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• Ravalli County Electric Co-op: Ravalli, located in Corvallis, in Western Montana's Bitterroot Valley, has put together a user-friendly site. The Billing, Credit, Rates section is comprehensive with respect to rates and policies. Under 'Cooperative Stuff' there is a directory of employees, text on the co-operative philosophy and an amusing discussion of the "famous R-Paint Controversy." Another page covers energy services, usage and outage information.
• Red Deer (AB) Electric Light and Power: The Red Deer Web page is part of the city of Red Deer page and has little information, probably because there isn’t much for them to report.
• Renewable Northwest Project: As part of its mandate to promote renewable energy in the Northwest, this 5-year-old coalition of public interest groups and energy companies has added this site, offering a brief look at its purposes and accomplishments. More on RNP's clean energy award can be had here, a breakdown on NW energy resources, a rap on the benefits of renewables, and separate sections on wind, solar and geothermal (but not hydro). There's also a great links page, a list of RNP members, and staff bios.
• Reynolds Aluminum: This regional DSI has plants at Longview and Troutdale. Reynolds Metals Company (RMC) merged with Alcoa in 2000.
• Ruralite Service Inc: Ruralite, based in Forest Grove, OR, provides job and safety training for electrical linemen and publishes Ruralite magazine for consumer-owned utilities in the Northwest (which claims a circulation of 272,000). Besides a blurb on the job training and safety department, most of the site is devoted to marketing the magazine and the mechanics of submitting editorial content.

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• Sacramento Municipal Utility Board: The well-organized website of the fifth largest publicly owned electric utility (in terms of customers served) has separate sections for its residential and commercial customers, each with program, rate and other data of interest to that class. The commercial section includes summaries of current bidding opportunities. The page on Energy & Technology is aimed at helping businesses profit from emerging technologies; another contains board meeting schedules (but no agenda), press releases and job listings. Another page details the diverse mix of SMUD's resource portfolio.
• Salmon River Electric Co-op: A solid effort for a utility of its size, a good example of cooperating with a number of outside sources to supply relevant content. Features include a means to get and pay your various utility bills on-line--a work product of Easy-2-Pay, a company formed by Salmon River and Automated Payment Processing Inc. A short list of services and a community directory of sorts (including a calendar of events) can be found here, an organization chart, and a "Kids Korner." Access is also made to the latest board of directors meeting minutes.
• Salt River Project: The Salt River Project itself is a major reclamation project mainly noted for electricity and water services. The water business is conducted by a private corporation, the electric business is a political subdivision of the state of Arizona. The site offers extensive information on Programs and Services and officers and management section with links but no communication information.
• San Diego Gas and Electric: San Diego’s site has a standard set of customer and corporate information, but little about the company in a corporate sense and no electronic information.
• Save Our Wild Salmon: This homepage is produced by "a coalition of Northwest fishers, conservationists, scientists, business people and private citizens working to restore the declining numbers of wild salmon in the Northwest." The SOS site "is designed to educate you about the Northwest's salmon crisis" and contains a variety of position papers and contact points on issues and includes links to other conservation groups "working to restore salmon."
• ScottishPower: The Scottish firm that purchased PacifiCorp is of relevance in the Northwest, so it doesn't hurt to check on the website designed for its native customers. The site is conventional--a press release page, descriptions of services sorted by customer classes, career opportunities. There is also a section on Cruachan--"The Hollow Mountain"--a description of one of Britain's few pumped storage projects.
• Seattle City Light: SCL's home page is one of a series of pages in the city government's Public Access Network. The general information contents and other sections of the page are directed more toward City Light customers than toward the energy industry. A fact sheet has some interesting statements on SCL policy. There is a "fact sheet" and brief history of SCL, an extremely short directory, a rate card and some billing polices information. There are very brief descriptions of the utility's conservation and other programs.
• Sierra Pacific Power Company: The website of this IOU has a page aimed at investors. It contains an impressive amount of financial information including the company's 10-Q, the 10-year Statistical Report, fundamental data on the company's stock price, volume and historical performance, and dividend reinvestment and stock purchase plans. The Annual Report is browsable. You can also get stock quotes for other companies. Information on some of the company's current projects is included.
• Snohomish PUD:   Aimed at customers, this site includes quarterly earnings, some financial statements, comparative 5-year financial and statistical data and even a list of tax obligations. However it has little or nothing about the PUD's own rates and tariffs. There are also some perfunctory sketches of the PUD itself, its history, structure, goals & values and power sources. The Energy Education section offers info on how to get curricular support material, schedules for upcoming programs, a brief page of standard electric safety tips and a list of energy links that includes a fine collection of museums across the county with electric web offerings such as a bios of Faraday, Edison and Westinghouse. The "What's New" section has archived PUD news releases, a list of PUD auditoriums available for public use, community data (mostly phone numbers for county and city officials, and county school districts, courts, newspapers, and legislative representatives), a community events calendar, and the beginnings of a listing of PUD job openings. The Programs and Services section has rather brief summaries of PUD conservation and other ancillary programs (including a speakers bureau), mostly listing where to call for more information or to sign up. The "Information You Can Use" section is a standard collection of electric and water conservation tips, what to do in an outage, a very brief summary of billing polices and, confusingly, a separate list of links, this time to mostly institutional electric industry sites (EPRI, BPA, WUTC, etc).
• SoCal Gas: This company is the largest local distribution company in the United States and has a lively web page. The SoCal Gas site has company information, but is mainly geared to its customers.
• Southern California Edison: This site can be accessed in a variety of languages. It has information for both private and business customers. There is information on rebates and energy conservation along with how to pay bills and sign up for service.
  
• Strategic Energy Ltd: SEL is an energy and consulting management agency with offices in Pittsburgh, PA; Charlotte, NC and San Jose, CA. Their website has a "Retail Wheeling" button which presents a US map colored according to the status of restructuring in each state. From here, you can click on any state and get a handful of paragraphs on where retail wheeling stands in that state. The summaries are of moderate depth, typically touching on legislative activity and pilot programs, but not much on state commissions.

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• Tacoma City Light: Actually, this is the website of Tacoma Public Utilities, of which TCL is a division. The TPU site is bare bones, with limited information on the TPU board and its director.
• Tacoma Public Utilities' Utiligraph: Tacoma has brought its customers an entirely new an useful service with Utiligraph, where they can view, graph and print out data relating to their use of electricity, water, solid waste, sewer and storm drain services. Other functions allow month-to-month and year-to-year comparisons of usage and cost. Billing data for multiple sites can also be viewed. Separate demos are viewable for residential, business and multiple-account customers.
  
• Tillamook PUD: Tillamook has made a solid effort here with pages for news, customer service, products and services, PUD history, board minutes, a links page and posting of its annual report. Nothing about cheese, though.
• Touch America: Montana Power made a big splash recently when it said it would leave the electric trading and marketing biz in favor of focusing more on its fiber optic network activities. Touch America Inc. is MPC's fiber operation, and has put up this site to promote itself. The site includes history of how TAI came to be, a list of local phone numbers, and a description of products and services.
• TransAlta: The website for Canada's largest investor-owned utility has financial information, a corporate profile, project status summary, and an extensive environmental-sustainable development section. Press releases are posted and the sight has a search engine.
• Tri-State GNT: This wholesale electric supplier is headquartered in Westminster Colorado and serves electrical customers in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. It has an excellent electronic map and a well-categorized e-mail directory of staff. Its map includes a Web site directory for all of its utility customers, including those with pages of their own, which are linked.
• TSIN.COM: This is the website of the TSIN Maintenance Organization, the industry group that FERC asked to refine the standards for OASIS, the Open Access Same Time Information Systems. The site is maintained cooperatively by the North American Electric Reliability Council and the Electric Power Research Institute. Its job is to provide "up-to-the-minute information about OASIS, the latest reports and papers for downloading, and a forum for the open discussion of OASIS issues." It intends to offer links to all the OASIS nodes. In addition, TSIN.COM has a list of OASIS vendors, an archive of relevant documents in various formats, a list of control areas by name and region, and an interesting glossary of terms and acronyms.
• Tucson Electric Power: Tucson’s colorful site with frames has a wealth of information about the company and its programs, including a list of the board of directors and corporate offices, but there are no communication links. The site has an extensive history of TEP beginning more than a century ago. The site includes an extensive finance and investing section.
• Turlock Irrigation District: The Turlock site has program and historical information on this central California water and electric utility, which was the Golden State’s first irrigation district. There are direct Director and staff listings.

U

• Umatilla Electric Cooperative : Opens up to the choices of Company Info, Residential, Irrigation and Commercial/Industrial. Each category breaks down into more extensive information.
• United Electric: This Heyburn, Idaho-based full requirements customer of BPA has sections on current news, planned outages, company history, a links page and a list of the stores and the amount of the discount they'll give you for using your United Electric Mutual Benefit credit card. The utility was formed Jan. 1, 1998 with the merger of Unity Light & Power in Burley, Idaho and Rural Electric Company in Rupert, Idaho, leaving it with a 12-member board of directors.
• US Army Corps of Engineers, Northwestern Division: The Corps regional office has a section on salmon passage at the dams, links to its four district offices, and some Corps press releases and newsletters. The salmon pages have extensive information on the fundamentals of fish matters. There’s also a link to the Corps Hydroelectric Design Center, which is located in Portland. From here, specs on the all Army Corps projects can be found.
• US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Access to 9th Circuit Court decisions is of course necessary for anyone interested in keeping up with Northwest energy policy. There are a number of pay services--for example Pacer--that attorneys use to download recent decisions. But for those of us too cheap to pay, the best web source up to now has been Villinova's noble attempt to make sense of the court. However the Niners have at long last joined their colleagues in nearly every other circuit by putting up their own site, and Villinova has logged off into history. Here, new opinions appear daily, and are archived back to 1995. Court calendars and other case scheduling data is available along with a search utility, phone lists, FAQs, court forms, general orders, a rather interesting list of legal links, notices of rule changes, press releases, fee schedules and even tracts on the tediously dull, 60-plus year-old debate over whether the 9th should be divided.
• US House
• US Senate
• Utility Connection: This is an excellent index to national and international energy resources on the web assembled by Michael Metzler, the southeastern regional manager in the management consulting division of the consulting and engineering firm of Black & Veatch working out of Orlando, FL. The mission of the site is to provide "links to electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities along with utility associations, organizations, news, magazines, and related state and federal regulatory and information sites." It is very well maintained and a good first choice for those who want to explore energy resource sites on the web.
• UW School of Fisheries: The school has posted this site, which includes information on Columbia Basin Research. One fun feature is the Hydroelectric Project Information, which has technical data and photos for about two dozen of the larger public and private Northwest dams. This site also has buttons for DART-data access in real time--an index of adult fish passage, PIT tag and other river and ocean data, as well as buttons for inseason forecasts, sport & fishing recreation, analytical tools for fish passage, dissolved gas, harvest, survival and a library database.

W

• Washington Legislature
• Washington Public Power Supply System: (See Energy Northwest)
• Washington PUD Association: There are 28 PUDs in Washington, 23 of which provide electric service. The site features postings of the Association's position papers on current issues, brief summaries of recent relevant state legislation, and some material for those interested in the water services most PUDs also provide. There's some basic information about PUDs, including some cumulative financial and energy usage data, and an adaptation of a history of public power in the state written by Grant County PUD commissioner Vera Claussen. Another page has a map of the PUDs with basic information about each (address, phone, commissioners, manager, number of customers), or links to those with their own websites. Association press releases are on line, and a section which promises to post news summaries and clips about individual PUDs. There's a calendar of events and members can register for events on line. There is also a refreshingly complete staff contact page with photos, phone numbers, brief job descriptions and e-mail links.
• Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission: The WUTC offers browsers a comprehensive site with lots of useful stuff. Most of the UTC's publications are on line, including the Regulatory Update, open meeting agenda, filings received, and filing disposition. Some full text documents and audio recordings concerning the commission's higher-profile cases and hearings are available. Information on the commissioners, including some of their recent speeches and/or testimony is accessible, as are pages on the agency itself, a consumer information page, news and current events snippets and a detailed telecommunications page.
• Washington Water Power Co: See Avista Corp.
• West Oregon Electric Cooperative: This site was the first to be posted by a cooperative utility in the Northwest. The site says the utility "is a member-owned cooperative which provides electric distribution services to approximately 3,800 members in portions of Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook, western Washington, and Yamhill Counties in the far Northwest corner of Oregon south of the Columbia River at Longview." The utility is based in Venonia and the site contains descriptions of the 25 unincorporated communities which it serves. It has a generous selection of links about the area in which it is located as well as links to utility information and education resources.
• Western Area Power Administration: WAPA markets federal power in 15 western and mid-western states from 55 power plants with a total capacity of 10,600 MW. The main page has buttons leading to a short profile of WAPA, its strategic plan, recent press releases, job openings and a useful section on WAPA's procurement procedures (including a list of active solicitations). Excerpts from the annual report can be downloaded but not viewed on site. Also on the main page is a link to an extensive index of WAPA's energy services, including resource planning, publications and a list of customer reps by region. There are separate links to each of WAPA's five administrative regions: Desert Southwest, Rocky Mountain, Sierra Nevada, Upper Great Plains and the Colorado River Storage Project. The information offered at these subsites is not uniform; for example some offer extensive rate information or resource data, while others carry only a brief profile and a sprinkling of links; some have press release buttons that go to releases that don't come up on the main page's press release button.
• Western Energy Institute (formerly Western Electric Power Institute, NELPA): The regional utility trade association site has hot buttons for upcoming meetings, conference and training workshops. There is a membership information section and a very long, unannotated links page.
• Western Interstate Energy Board: WIEB members include 11 western states and Canadian provinces. WIEB is the energy arm of the Western Governors' Association. It has three committees, including the Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation and the High Level Radioactive Waste Committee. With the exception of radioactive waste, WIEB does not spend that much time on electric issues, as its Reports and Comments section reflects; but within this section there are a few policy documents including white papers on reliability, competition, the sale of WAPA and the hydropower licensing process. Also online is the organization's newsletter (along with archived past issues), which does carry a pretty consistant share of electric news.
• Western States Energy Theft Association: Worth visiting if only for the musical fanfare, WSETA's mission is "to develop and support an ongoing effort to combat revenue loss through energy diversion thereby reducing the unfair financial burden placed on other rate payers." Meetings are usually held annually in spring. There's no alternative but to say this site is a little weird; maybe that's because it appears driven mostly by NewsGroup postings, which can be of dubious motives. But as an outpost in the industry's web presence, it's a legitimate player.
• Western Systems Power Pool: WSPP is a group of US and Canadian utilities operating under an umbrella marketing agreement. The site has lists of its membership indexed several different ways (including a useful list of power schedulers), committee lists, membership requirement information, reference documents and links. It also has a section for upcoming meetings and notices.
• WSU Cooperative Extension Energy Program: The Energy Program was created to provide energy programs and services within the transportation, residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. Only a sense of the data available can be relayed here. There are pages on alternative fuels, telecommuting, renewables, manufactured housing, and software development. The energy Ideas Clearinghouse is collection of newsgroups, job listings, publications, bulletins, publications, links and other assorted miscellany. Another page focuses on education and training opportunities, while another on building standards features links to downloadable files containing important Washington State energy standards. The industrial services age includes a discussion on specific market transformation activities, industrial research projects and technical assistance. Another page promotes the program's library services and energy newsletter.

X

• Xenergy: Xenergy has become KEMA. Electrical safety testing and certification are KEMA's core activities

Y

• Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative: Includes a brief profile, anything you're likely to want to know about service connections, usage and billing; a run down on efficiency and other program, a news section and a couple other items.

Z

• ZE Power Group: ZE PowerGroup Inc. was started by Dr. Zak El-Ramly, former executive VP of Powerex. His Richmond, BC-based consulting firm assists clients in various elements of the changing electric market, such as business transactions and structure, risk management, marketing development, regulatory strategy, and helping with or assuming responsibility for contract negotiations. Ken Epp, a former CEO and president of Powerex and BC Hydro executive, is a ZE associate. The site offers more information about personnel, the scope of recent projects, and some contracting information.