ColumbiaGrid Transmission Group Incorporates As Washington Nonprofit Corporation

Seattle - ColumbiaGrid, a new entity created to improve the operational efficiency, reliability, and planned expansion of the Northwest interconnected electric transmission system, announced that it has been incorporated as a nonprofit membership corporation in Washington state.

The corporation was formed by operators of the interconnected transmission system to integrate the use and expansion of their systems in order to achieve needed improvements efficiently and cost effectively while taking into account environmental concerns and other regional interests.

Founding members of ColumbiaGrid are expected to be Avista Corporation, Bonneville Power Administration, Chelan County PUD, Grant County PUD, Puget Sound Energy, and Seattle City Light. The members will be named in the corporation's bylaws, which are targeted for adoption at the April 14 meeting of the ColumbiaGrid Forum, ColumbiaGrid's stakeholder policy group. Other Northwest control area operators responsible for the secure and reliable operation of their interconnected systems are welcome to join.

"We believe that ColumbiaGrid will benefit not only individual members and their customers, but the entire Northwest," said Kristi Wallis, the incorporator of ColumbiaGrid. "It's an interconnected system and, by working together, members can achieve benefits that could not be achieved if they continued to act separately," added Wallis.

ColumbiaGrid's roles and responsibilities will be detailed in functional agreements among ColumbiaGrid, its members, and other qualified parties. ColumbiaGrid intends to begin providing services to its members and the region before the end of 2006.

SOURCE: ColumbiaGrid