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The process leading up to a vote on the proposed $1 billion sale of the Municipal Light & Power utility to the Chugach Electric Association gets curiouser and curiouser, setting off alarms among those who get fidgety when government seemingly greases the skids to get what it wants.
Whether such a sale would be good for Anchorage remains to be seen, but there is no reason this city should have more than one electric utility operating within its borders. What is debatable and more than a little sketchy is how the proposed sale is being handled.
Except for a blizzard of recent “win-win” puffery, the process to sell this valuable, publicly owned asset has been shrouded in secrecy since the Assembly urged the two utilities to talk in June. The city’s ML&P Commission was even kept in the dark until the day before Mayor Ethan Berkowitz announced the proposed sale in December. The commission’s chief rightly resigned in protest of the lack of transparency.