An article appearing in your pages, reprinted from the Seattle Times, used an inaccurate figure for Columbia Generating Station's cost of power -- and did not tell the full story about Columbia's remaining "debt." Unfortunately, the article gives even the casual observer a false impression on both fronts.

Columbia's average cost of power during the last 10 years (2001-2010) was 3 cents per kilowatt hour. Even with debt service included, that average cost of power is about 4 cents per kilowatt hour. Besides hydropower, there is not another clean, baseload source of energy that touches that.

Regarding the debt issue -- Columbia's construction debt would have been paid off next year had we not partnered with the Bonneville Power Administration in a program to eliminate BPA's higher-interest federal debt -- which also served to lessen the affect of energy cost increases to Northwest ratepayers.

Readers who wish to know all the facts on both subjects may go to the Energy Northwest website (www.energy-northwest.com) and click on the link on the right-hand side of the page to access our response.

Thank you for the opportunity to set the record straight.

Brent Ridge, Chief financial officer, Energy Northwest