Electric supplier cutting off Nordstrom

By Gary Olson, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 3:26 PM ET Feb 10, 2001 Newswatch Latest Headlines Get Alerted SEATTLE (CBS.MW) -- In a move that shows the severity of the West Coast's energy problems, the hometown electric company of retailer Nordstrom is cutting off some juice. Seattle City Light, a municipally owned electric utility, said it is ending a contract to supply 38 Nordstrom (JWN: news, msgs) stores in California, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Saturday.

The pact, signed in 1997 for $4 a megawatt-hour, will expire in March and won't be renewed, City Light told the P-I. The contract was later adjusted to reflect a market rate for power. But Nordstrom will have to replace its power source with another supplier at a time that megawatt-hours are selling for hundreds of dollars on the spot market.

Seattle-based Nordstrom officials could not be reached for comment.

California's energy crisis has made headlines nationwide, but the Pacific Northwest is also suffering. Two weeks ago, Seattle's City Council approved an 18 percent rate hike for local customers and Tacoma's municipal utility has passed a 40 percent rate hike. Portland General Electric has warned of rate increases in Oregon's biggest city, as well.

The region depends on hydroelectric dams and water levels are unusually low, raising fears of electric shortages that could rival those of the Golden State.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 10, 2001