The Palm Springs City Council has approved a contract with Portland General Corp., the parent company of Portland General Electric, which specifies the roles and responsibilities of both parties as the city establishes a new utility, "City of Palm Springs Energy Services."
Last December, Palm Springs had selected Portland General to become the city's new energy services partner to help it develop a municipal utility to compete in a deregulated marketplace.
"Portland General is making a significant commitment to building a business with the city in order to bring customers what they want (em competitive prices, quality services and customer care," said George Wyatt, Palm Springs manager for Portland General.
Southern California Edison is the present electric supplier for Palm Springs. After implementation of electric restructuring in California on Jan. 1, 1998, Edison would continue to operate the distribution system, but the new Palm Springs/Portland General alliance plans to construct wire and substation facilities in new industrial parks built after that date. (em LB