Black Hills versus Weinberger: How Useful is It for Other Air Force Bases to Competitively Acquire Electricity

摘要

It appears the Air Force will have to live with tighter budgets over the next several years. Therefore, ways to save money that do not compromise the mission are needed. One way to accomplish this is to compete for utility services. The Air Force spends over $1 billion a year for utilities, and about $550,000,000 for electricity alone. In 1984 Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota competed for a portion of its electric power needs. As of 30 September 1987, the base had saved over $890,000 because of this competitive effort. This competitive effort resulted in litigation on the issue of whether an Air Force base is required to follow state created utility franchise arrangements. The Air Force won this litigation. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the court case approving Ellsworth's electric competition, and to determine the usefulness of this case for other Air Force bases. If the Ellsworth example could be applied at other bases, the Air Force would realize tremendous savings. However, this case presented some rather unique facts that will limit its usefullness.