October 16, 1998

Dear Stakeholders for Electric System Study Project – ESSB 6560:

This message is to update you briefly on the progress of the study of Washington’s electric system being conducted by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission and the Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development, pursuant to ESSB 6560.

The study relies on both the data collected in the ESSB 6560 data survey and the data submitted under HB 2831. Both sets of data are nearly complete, but we are still waiting for a few pieces of information to come in. Nevertheless, it is still our hope to distribute a reasonably complete draft of the report for stakeholder comment and review on November 6.

However, given the very short period between availability of complete data and the November 6 target date, it will not be possible to distribute a preliminary draft. In some cases, we are still interpreting data and working with utilities to clarify data submittals and ensure consistency. Once that process is complete, we will only have a few weeks to complete the analysis and present it in a usable format by November 6. We are planning a public meeting to take comment on the draft November 23^rd from 9 am to 3 pm, at the Best Western Airport Executel, near the SeaTac airport. (Directions and a reminder notice will be sent the week before the meeting.) That should still give stakeholders an adequate period in which to review and comment on the draft and allow us to improve the report for final presentation to the Legislature at the end of the year.

Notwithstanding the tight time frame for preparing the study, we anticipate being able to deliver a high-quality, informative product for the Legislature. Our ability to do so is in large part due to the tremendous cooperation of utilities and other stakeholders in delivering data and lending the benefit of their perspectives to the development of the study. We particularly want to extend thanks to the utilities for the quantity and quality of their work in responding to the data survey.

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