Utility Suspects It Is Bugged

The public utility that owns the Rancho Seco nuclear plant near Sacramento has been spending taxpayers’ money to search its executive offices for electronic listening devices because it suspects industrial espionage by other utility companies. Sacramento Municipal Utility District officials said they paid a professional investigating firm $10,000 to search the offices three times this year, according to a article in the Sacramento Bee. None of the searches turned up any electronic “bugs.” However, SMUD officials said that several times in recent months sensitive information has seemed to mysteriously turn up in the hands of the utility’s competitors. A spokesman for PG & E, which last September offered to buy out the district, shut down Rancho Seco and freeze electric rates, called the allegation “too ridiculous to comment on.” SMUD customers voted Tuesday to give Rancho Seco an 18-month grace period to operate, rejecting a rival initiative to close the plant.