Governor wants input on utility regulation bill

Governor Vilsack has appointed an attorney to the Iowa Utilities Board –and the Governor hopes to make changes in a bill which would restructure theelectric utility industry. Diane Munns of Des Moines is the newest memberof the three-person Utilities Board which regulates the state’s telephoneand electric utilities.Munns says utilities are in a dramatic period of transition.Governor Vilsack wants to be a “facilitator” in summertime talks amonglegislators, consumer advocates and utilities officials who’re drafting abill which would restructure the industry.Vilsack says it’s important for Iowa to enact its own legislation.Vilsack says electric “re-structuring” will be different from deregulationof the telephone and airline industries because specific utilities willstill be required to provide transmission service to certain customers,ensuring a method of trasmitting electricity.