FAIRBANKS — A draft plan on statewide electrical generation suggests big savings are to be found if six electrical utilities in Fairbanks and Southcentral consolidate.

Directors at the Fairbanks utility, Golden Valley Electric Association, generally agree, though they and their counterparts across the state have yet to agree on how to get there without saddling customers with higher short-term electricity prices.

The draft plan, a Regional Integrated Resource Plan produced by a Kansas-based international consultant, reports households and businesses will save money if one centralized utility followed its plan for replacing aging transmission lines and power plants and helping guide residents toward energy efficient practices.

Gov. Sean Parnell’s predecessor, Sarah Palin, proposed such a consolidation before leaving office. Work on the draft electric plan, released last week, advanced with the understanding the state was seeking that consolidation. The plan, a Regional Integrated Resource Plan, and its analysis of Alaska’s electrical infrastructure periodically mentions the proposed consolidation and said it would help cut collective costs and provide other payoffs by making it easier to shift the state toward more renewable power.

Black & Veatch, the consulting firm, suggested the state work closely with lawmakers and utilities to take steps toward consolidating next year.

Brian Newton, chief executive at Golden Valley, said GVEA and the region’s other five utilities generally agree that consolidation can one day reduce rates and improve generation and distribution across much of the state.

He said the utility’s directors remain split on the state’s tentative proposal, which Parnell has backed but which some feel falls short on details and fails to outline how a central utility might swiftly improve power-sharing transmission lines to help all communities benefit from the change.

Newton said Golden Valley is not and never has been opposed to the prospect of utility centralization. But he said while it will likely one day help lower rates by improving efficiency, consolidation isn’t a must-have in the short run.

“You could achieve a little more (savings) by consolidating, but only a little bit more,” Newton said. “Getting there is going to be very painful.”

The draft electric plan, released last week, will be discussed at an Alaska Energy Authority meeting Thursday in Anchorage. It also suggests energy efficiency programs would benefit homes and businesses in and near urban areas.

Black & Veatch said if a consolidated electric utility isn’t formed soon, the state should open some sort of office to develop energy efficiency programs and help steer utilities’ efforts to build renewable energy projects.

Palin’s consolidation proposal, pitched through bills currently in the House and Senate energy committees, would create a “centralized” nonprofit utility with a 13 member board. Utilities would slowly transfer ownership of power plants to the company, as would the state Energy Authority with the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric plant.

The region’s six utilities are split regarding the detailed consolidation proposal, with Parnell backing the prospect of merging the entities.

“Affordable and reliable power is a fundamental building block for economic growth,” Parnell stated in a news release last month praising three utilities that have backed the consolidation proposal. “Cooperation and joint planning is essential for economic growth. I look forward to working with utilities that are ready to roll up their sleeves and work together.”

Contact staff writer Christopher Eshleman at 459-7582.