Page 6
University Daily Kansan, February 24, 1983
Proposed bills to reduce utility expenses
By DIANE LUBER
Staff Reporter
TOPEKA — A Senate committee heard testimony yesterday on two bills that would help decrease gas and electric bills.
State Sen. Jack Steiniger, D-Kansas City, told the Senate Transportation and Utilities Committee that one of the bills was an attempt to deal with what he called outrageous natural gas prices.
"This bill would put fiber back into the safety net," he said. "Many Kansans have reached the point where they must decide to heat or eat."
THE BILL would set a maximum price for the first 30 mcf of natural gas used a month by people 62 or older, or disabled, who have annual incomes of less than $8,000. An mcf is 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas.
Steineger said that the only action taken on the issue of natural gas prices had been public relations campaigns by Gasworks for greater decontrol of gas prices.
"The public has had about all the decontrol and deregulation they can stand," he said. "They're tired of hearing about cheap gas lying untapped in Kansas, while more expensively running gas that the state is pumped into their homes."
Pat Donahue, project director of the Kansas Legal Services consumers
entients living on fixed incomes, which he called "a new class of poor." Many people are having trouble paying utility bills even though their incomes are adequate by government standards, he said.
DONHUAHE SAID one of the classifications of natural gas created by the Natural Gas Policy Act applied to this bill. The act kept constant the price of old gas, or gas produced from wells that existed before the act, be said. The act kept constant the price of new gas, or gas produced $2.26 for each met, compared with $3.46 for each met of decontaminated gas.
The bill would use the price of old gas to set the maximum price for the first
Al Bramble, a spokesman for the Kansas Coalition on Aging, said that pride had prevented many elderly citizens from taking money from voluntarily created funds, such as the Social Security bills, to help pay their utility bills.
"This bill would help them to live a life of dignity without having to ask for charity," he said.
ED FRIESEN, a spokesman for the Kansas Retired Teachers Association, agreed.
"Most needy people want to pay something to preserve their dignity and respect," he said.
Nat Willoughby, spokesman for People's Natural Gas Co., said social programs, not utilities, should take care of the elderly and poor.
This bill fails to protect customers of municipally owned utilities and consumers who use fuel oil or propane to heat their homes, he said. Low-income elderly and disabled people who rent apartments or not give a lower rate to apartment owners who pay the utility bills of their tenants, he said.
WILLOUGHBY SAID that the pipeline company he was associated with had experienced a 20 percent reduction in sales because people were conserving. But the reduction was caused by high price, he said, not cheap price.
He predicted that gasoline usage would increase now that gasoline prices have decreased. The same relationship exists with usage applies to utilities, he said.
The 30 mcf specified in the bill for a maximum rate is excessive, he said. The average Kansan uses between 110 and 120 mcf annually.
The committee also heard testimony on a bill to allow the Kansas Corporation Commission to approve a rate to encourage conservation of electricity or natural gas by residential customers.
Donahue compared the rates now used by utilities with a rate that the utility paid in 2014.
UTILITIES CHARGE customers the same rate for each unit of energy they use no matter how much, or they charge a rate that decreases as energy
use increases, he said. Under one type of conservation rate called an inverted rate, the more energy a customer used, the higher the rate he would pay. he said.
Sylvia Hoagland, secretary of the Kansas Department of Aging, said she favored the bill because a rate could be designed to cover the cost of service the utilities provided. Because the rate would apply to all residential customers, she said, it would not be discriminatory.
A survey by the Department of Energy showed that low-income elderly households used 40 percent less natural gas than other consumers, she said. But those households spend almost 400 percent of their total income on energy costs than middle-income households.
THE GOVERNOR'S Conference on Aging last May ranked lower utility bills as the number one priority for state action, she said.
Ed Peterson, attorney for the KCC, said the KCC already had the authority to implement conservation rates, but also this bill would clarify that authority.
He explained another type of conservation rate to the committee. Under the demand subscription rate, he said, a customer would agree to use a limited amount of energy and would be charged a lower rate as a result. Such a rate helps utility companies because it allows them to predict demand.
Watson opposes bill that would raise water rate
By DIANE LUBER Staff Reporter
TOPEKA — Lawrence City Manager Buford Watson told a House committee yesterday that the Legislature was trying to accomplish too much at once in a bill that would almost double the amount of water from Clinton Reservoir in 1988.
The bill sets up charges so that users of water from federal reservoirs can pay for the operation and maintenance of their water supplies. Water users could also reimburse the state for the money it spent as a middleman between the federal government and the water users, he said.
BUT THE bill also tries to deal with the issue of conservation, Watson said, and the issues should be handled separately.
Lawrence has been doing its part to pay the costs of water usage, he said, by contracting water to Baldwin City, cattle, Edgerton and rural water districts.
"No one has been more aggressive in the sale of water than the city of Lawrence," he said.
The more water Lawrence uses itself and through its contracts with other users, the more money the state receives.
Watson estimated that the city was now using about half of the water it had contracted for with the state. The city would be for more water to allow for growth.
WATSON OBJECTED to the conservation charge of 2.5 cents that the bill says would go toward the acquisition development of future water supplies.
"We should only pay back that which the state has naid." he said.
Bill Henry, executive vice president of the Kansas Engineering Society, said that some people had called the 2.5 cent conservation charge a severance tax on workers who are the only people who will be financing the fund for future development.
State Rep. Ron Fox, R-Prairie Village, told Hillary, "I have the same concerns as you. I'm not totally with it. With it. We need to move ahead."
WATSON SAID the state should honor its existing water contracts. Those were negotiated when state law
set a maximum price for water at 10 cents for every 1,000 gallons.
The bill would increase the water rate to 11.58 cents for every 1,000 gallons.
Attorney General Robert Stephan has recognized the existing contracts as valid, he said, and the committee should amend the bill to include Stephan's opinion and to show legislative intent.
Peggy Blackman, mayor of Marion, said that her community would file legal documents to fight any attempt by the mayor to force 10 cents the water rates. Marion nays.
AS A SPOKESMAN for the League of Kansas Municipalities, she said the pricing of water should be based on direct costs for existing reservoirs or reservoirs for which land had been acquired. The league opposes any statewide assessments on the sale or use of water until a comprehensive water plan has been developed, she said.
"This bill provides for the raising of a significant amount of money in the absence of an updated state water plan," she said. "Simply put, neither you nor I know what water needs will be addressed with the money in the new
conservation storage water supply fund "
The period of time set in the bill within which a water user would have to use all the water under contract is too short, she said.
THE BILL says that if a water user is not using all the water contracted for by six years after entering into the contract with the state and if the user does not begin payment for the water by that time, the Kansas Water could decrease that user's allocation if another water user needs the water.
Ramon Powers, legislative research assistant to the committee, told the committee that his calculations that set the water rate at 14.27 cents for every 1,000 gallons had been based on a low estimate of water consumption from federal reservoirs. The correct rate is set for every 1,000 gallons, he said.
MARSHA MARSHALL, a representative of the Kansas Natural Resource Council, said that the most far-reaching problem with the bill was that it would only regulate reservoir storage waters, which represent less than 10 percent of the total water available in Kansas.
Legislation could raise legal driving age to 17
By JEFF TAYLOR Staff Reporter
TOPEKA — Prospective Kansas drivers would have to be 17 years old before they could apply for a driver's license under a bill that a House committee discussed yesterday.
The measure also would raise the age that a minor could apply for a restricted driver's license from 14 to 15.
The House Transportation Committee heard testimony on the bill from opponents who thought young drivers caused problems for the
STATE REP. Rex Crowell, R- Lington, chairman of the committee, said that no sound statistics were offered during the testimony that proved that younger drivers caused more accidents.
"I was surprised that there were no efforts made to show they are not as safe," he said. "Apparently those statistics don't exist."
"I'm not sure any convincing arguments were presented."
Proponents of the bill said the state could reduce parking problems at high schools if the driving age were increased.
But Crowell said he did not think the parking problems were serious.
abbreviated Buyington, an opponent of the bill who represented agencies for handicapped people, said increasing
driving age would further limit the number of licensed drivers that could drive for elderly and hand-canned people.
CROWELL ALSO said questions and comments during the testimony indicated that members of the committee were not in favor of the
He said the committee would take final action on the bill sometime next week
The committee discussed another proposal that also would increase the age that a person could apply for a restricted license to 15. However, the bill will leave the required age for a regular driver's license at 16.
The bill, introduced by State Rep. Mike Meacham, R-Wichita, would also require drivers with a restricted license to have driven for one year before applying for a regular license.
The holder of a restricted license also would have to complete driver's training in an approved driver education course.
ALSO, MOTORCYCLE drivers with restricted licenses would have to complete driver's training courses. The cyclists would also have to ride with a licensed adult riding nearby.
In another bill, introduced by State Rep. Robert Vancrum, R-Overland Park, a person applying for a restricted driver's license have to pass the written examination before a license would be issued
Five OPEC members threaten to reduce price to $30 a barrel
By United Press International
Five Persian Gulf members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries threatened yesterday to slash oil prices and undercut competitors if the 13-member OPEC failed to agree on a unified price reduction at an emergency summit next week, the Kuwaiti news agency reported.
Gulf officials said Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq decided OPEC's $34-a-barrel base oil price should be lowered to around $30 a barrel. Each $1-a-barrel drop in oil world prices theoretically translates into a 2.3 cent-a-gallon saving at U.S. gas pumps.
The Gulf ministers rushed to the Saudi capital of Riyadh for a two-day visit, where they met minister, lowered its oil prices from $35.50 to $3 an barrel Saturday to match
reductions by. non-OPEC Britain, Norway and the Soviet Union.
Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed Zakiy Yamani said, "We have ample weight and power to make others think we are waging a price war against us."
Mana Saeed al Otaiba, oil minister for the United Arab Emirates, said OPEC would hold a full-scale summit in Geneva or Vienna next week.
GULF ANALYSTS said Saudi Arabia and the other oil-rich Gulf states, with estimated financial reserves of between $150 billion and $175 billion, were still to be feared despite weak ailments. They wouldwithstand a dramatic drop in prices.
OFEC deadlocked Jan 24 on a plan to keep its $34 oil price from collapsing because of a pricing dispute between the company and its boss offered covert price discounts.
SHOWCASING THE FINEST IMPORTED & AMERICAN WINES, LIQUORS, CHAMPAGNES IN LAWRENCE
borgen's LIQUOR STORE
PICK UP YOUR FAVORITE:
- BEERS
- WHISKEYS
- CORDIALS
& LIQUEURS
- VODKAS
- WINES
917 Iowa
& COGNACS
- BRANDIES
842-3990
IN HILLCREST SHOPPING CENTER
KIEF'S SUPER SAVINGS
On These Warner-Elektra-Atlantic Hits
Mig $8.98
List
Kief's $549
CASSETTE
Mfg.
List $8.98
Kief's $549
Mtg.
Let $8.98
Kief's $549
Wrg. $10-98
List Kief's $699