Two of our basic daily needs are a home and its electricity. In America, 60% of us own our

homes. On Vashon, electricity is supplied by Puget Sound Energy, a company owned by an

Australian hedge fund group that holds also a major portion of America’s natural gas

distribution business. We rent our electricity from PSE.

Nowadays some of us own a portion of our electrical supply—through rooftop solar

panels—but generally we depend upon PSE to manage that supply and make it available

around the clock and through the seasons. PSE provides that valuable service for about half

our State however it seems that some anti-social features have become apparent in their

business model. (Many listed by Angela London in her “Take Action” article published in the

Dec.6 th Beachcomber.)

In a region known for its inexpensive hydropower, 60% of PSE’s electricity comes from

burning coal and natural gas, affecting the quality of our air, the PH of our oceans and the

temperature of both. Like a nasty landlord they are suing our State over its Clean Air Rules,

proposing a huge natural gas plant and ignoring their pollutants while claiming that they’re

“greening” our future.

Put briefly, Vashon buys electricity from a foreign hedge fund while others in our State get

theirs through a federal agency (BPA), municipalities (like Seattle and Tacoma), energy co-

ops or one of the 24 Public Utility Districts (PUDs)— meeting basic domestic needs through

public resources.

Our nation is experiencing an energy revolution—in use and the means of production and

distribution. Electric cars are replacing automobiles; solar panels, our fossil-fueled plants;

battery storage and microgrids, our long transmission lines. Some neighborhoods today are

meeting their electrical needs through local, publicly own facilities. Isn’t it time for Vashon to

reconsider their own PUD?

— Ward Carson