It is easy to be cynical these days. A case in point is the recent flap about Pennsylvania Power and Light including political concessions in its contract negotiations for power purchases with NorthWestern Energy.

But before we get to that we need a re-cap. The Legislature deregulated the old Montana Power Company. As a result, Montana Power sold the dams on our rivers and its interest in the coal-fired power plants to Pennsylvania Power. In the new, deregulated environment the only restriction on the price Pennsylvania Power could charge us was competition from other suppliers in the market place … there aren't many. Consumers in Montana have seen dramatic price increases while purchasing the bulk of our power from the deregulated Pennsylvania Power.

There have been numerous attempts to deal with Pennsylvania Power. These include the effort to buy back the dams, which failed after Pennsylvania Power poured an unprecedented three million dollars into our electoral process. There have been legislative efforts ranging from taxes to forming a public power authority; all of those beaten back by Pennsylvania Power's team of lobbyists in Helena. There have been administrative appeals. The most significant is a case pleading that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission do its job and protect Montana customers from Pennsylvania Power's monopoly manipulation of the power market. That case is currently on appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. And we have gone to court. The Attorney General has filed a lawsuit to charge Pennsylvania Power "rent" for using the bed and banks of our rivers to pad their hydro-electric pocket book.

Pennsylvania Power has used virtually every trick in the book to maximize their profits from the Montana cash cow. That includes charging as much as they can get for power while appealing their property taxes, throwing many local governments and schools into turmoil. The money just keeps flowing from our pockets to the corporate offices in Allentown.

In these times of corporate scandals it is easy to shrug and say, that's just the way it is; not a lot we can do about it except reach into our wallets and pay a few more bucks. There is helplessness in becoming cynical. That is why we must avoid it. Instead of being cynical we should be indignant.

At a recent PSC hearing it came out that during contract negotiations with NorthWestern Energy, Pennsylvania Power tried to get NorthWestern to sign a contract agreeing not to support legislation Pennsylvania Power didn't like. NorthWestern didn't agree to the language, but it sure raises a question about what the heck that kind of proposal is doing in a contract about buying power for Montana consumers. Imagine you are negotiating to buy a new car and the salesman comes up and says, "Well that's all good, but we also want you agree not to vote in the next election."

I'm not a Pollyanna about the political process, and frankly I know that NorthWestern also has a team of lobbyists and lawyers and is perfectly capable of defending itself. The problem here is that I'm not at all sure NorthWestern Energy is all that focused on protecting consumers. After all, they just pass the cost of buying power from Pennsylvania Power on to consumers. They make their money through transmission and distribution charges, not power generation.

While NorthWestern did not agree to the lobbying restriction, they did agree not to pursue the law suit before the Ninth Circuit challenging Pennsylvania Power's monopoly status here in Montana. Of course that weakens the viability of the court challenge … that's why Pennsylvania Power wanted it in the contract in the first place.

The fact of the matter is that we don't have to take this kind of stuff. There are lots of things we could do to rein in Pennsylvania Power. Here are just a few:

1. We could dust off the Buy-Back-the-Dams idea.

2. We could increase the wholesale energy transaction tax (use the revenue for rate relief).

3. We could adjust the property tax rate on large power generators (use the revenue for rate relief).

4. We could enact a hydro-electric production tax (use the revenue for rate relief).

All of these things and more have been proposed in various political arenas. So far Montana has lacked the political will to deal effectively with Pennsylvania Power. Maybe its time to talk to your elected officials about what they can do to make sure we are getting a fair shake from this giant energy corporation.

Ken Toole is a member of the Montana Public Service Commission.