Who knew a simple name change could be so difficult?

Certainly not the Washington Public Power Supply System, which planned to change its name to Energy Northwest by the first of the new year, ridding itself of that embarrassing acronym -"Whoops." But that was before the other Energy Northwest stood up to protest. Organizers of a convention aimed at training providers of home weatherization programs -also called Energy Northwest -don't want to be confused with WPPSS or its troubled past.

That past includes four never-completed nuclear power plants and a $2.25 billion municipal bond default.

"Our clients are low-income households, a lot of whom were hurt by bad investments made by WPPSS," said Janet Abbett, a member of the convention's planning committee. "We are concerned with the bad history WPPSS has. We don't want that association.

"We were hoping they had a real good second choice." But WPPSS spokesman Don McManman said the supply system has no intent of backing away from the name selected in November after a yearlong search.

"We're just wondering how that convention can be confused with a nuclear power plant," McManman said.

WPPSS has made two offers to date, Abbett says. The first would have paid for the changing of the convention's name and logo and the second would have paid for the costs of the convention if the name could be shared.

Both were rejected.

"It's not a matter of money to us," said Abbett, also a program manager for the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. "It's a matter of identity." Though state law isn't clear as to whether the state has to approve a WPPSS name change, the supply system agreed to apply for the change through the Department of Ecology, said Tanya Barnett, a state assistant attorney general. But now that the conflict has arisen, Ecology wants the two parties to work it out on their own.

"We either compromise or dilute the identity of an established group; or deny your legitimate request to change your organization's name to Energy Northwest," Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons wrote in a letter to WPPSS CEO Vic Parrish two weeks ago. "In both instances, someone goes away a loser." But Abbett says in talks with other convention organizers, a broad group from Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Idaho, no one wants to give up or share the Energy Northwest name. There have been six conventions since 1990, which tend to draw about 350 people, she said.

The loose structure of convention organizers has frustrated WPPSS officials, who say they don't know whom to negotiate with.

"There's no one person we can go to and say, 'Let's talk,' "McManman said. "How do you talk to a convention?" Even more puzzling is how the potential conflict wasn't detected earlier. The convention's planning committee has a representative from Tacoma Public Utilities, which has a seat on the supply system's board of directors.

Mark Crisson, director of utilities for Tacoma and a WPPSS board member, couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

Abbett said representatives from Seattle City Light, which also has a seat on the WPPSS board, also have participated in the convention.

"Well, clearly, I'm not one of them," said Jim Todd, a WPPSS board member representing Seattle City Light, who had never heard of the Energy Northwest convention. "It would be confusing." Though WPPSS hired consultants to make sure the new name wasn't already taken, convention organizers didn't pursue a state trademark until after WPPSS announced Energy Northwest was a finalist. Both sides have filed for federal trademarks.

Abbett says convention organizers don't mean to be a thorn in the supply system's side, it's just that too much effort has been made to develop the conference's identity.

"We're not trying to be difficult, but we've made an investment in this," she said.