Power
Regional Dialogue
Since 2002, PPC has participated in a Regional
Dialogue with BPA, utilities, trade groups, industries
and public interest organizations to script BPA’s
future role in the region’s power supply. The
library of PPC’s Regional Dialogue comments are
in the archives and
a chronology and other details of the Regional
Dialogue process can be found on BPA’s web site: www.bpa.gov/power/pl/regionaldialogue.
BPA Proposes Long-Term Regional Dialogue
Policy. BPA
has released its Long-Term Regional Dialogue Policy
Proposal and scheduled a series of public meetings
around the Northwest to explain the proposal and
take public comments. The proposal, released July
13, 2006, outlines the agency’s approach to providing
post-2011 power service to its customers. A Regional
Dialogue policy has been in the works for over
five years, and the Public Power Council (PPC)
has been a major participant in discussions that
shaped the proposal. In addition to public meetings,
BPA is also considering holding a series of technical
workshops to address various topics in the proposal.
The agency acknowledged that the region has not
reached consensus on all Regional Dialogue issues,
including treatment of the investor-owned utility
residential exchange and the Slice product. But
BPA will move forward on all issues at the end
of the comment period (September 29) even if customers
and other stakeholders cannot reach agreement,
according to a BPA Backgrounder. The
agency would use a simpler fallback proposal for
some issues if necessary.The BPA Administrator
plans to make final policy decisions and sign a
record of decision in January 2007.
Under the policy proposal, BPA would offer power
to preference (PF) customers at tiered rates.
The agency would limit the firm power it sells
to PF customers at its lowest cost-based rates
to an amount approximately equal to the firm capability
of the Federal Columbia River Power System (Tier
1). PF customers could purchase additional power
from BPA to meet load growth, but the power would
be sold at a higher Tier 2 rate. In addition,
BPA reiterated its commitment in the proposal to
developing cost-effective conservation and supporting
renewables, incorporating the region’s new Resource
Adequacy standards into post-2011 contracts, and
adding mechanisms that increase the level of customer
and stakeholder input into agency cost decisions.
The first of five public meetings is scheduled
for August 1 in Seattle; a list of the meetings,
as well as a summary and complete text of the Regional
Dialogue Policy Proposal can be found at BPA’s
web site: http://www.bpa.gov/power/pl/regionaldialogue/announcements.shtml.
PPC Approves New Allocation Recommendation
to BPA. On April
10, 2006, the PPC Executive Committee approved
a new allocation recommendation and submitted
it to BPA; view the recommendation here.
The submittal, “PPC Additional Allocation Recommendations
Adopted March 7, 2006,” raised questions and
concerns from customers and BPA. In response,
the Executive Committee met and developed its
current proposal. In general, the proposal
attempts to: simplify and clarify the steps necessary
to determine High Water Marks (HWM) and address
resource removal; bring more transparency to
that process; and maintain or improve on the
balance of equity, fairness, practicality and
durability of the proposal.
Notably, instead of looking backward to 2002,
this proposal provides for a forward-looking estimate
of HWM for planning purposes and then locks in
an HWM for each utility based on actual load in
2010. The proposal provides for BPA supplementing
the FBS capability up to a cap of 300 average megawatts.
PPC affirms cautious support for refinancing and
extending CGS debt, after BPA revises its calculations: In
a January 9, 2006 letter to the Energy Northwest
Executive Board, PPC offered its cautious support
of BPA’s proposal to refinance and extend Columbia
Generating Station debt, finding that the proposal
appropriately balances near-term and long-term
costs, risks, and benefits, and would result in
net savings to ratepayers. Shortly thereafter,
BPA discovered miscalculations and corrected them,
resulting in changes to the net present value and
the timing of the savings. The PPC Executive
Committee has again affirmed its cautious support
for the proposal. Read the original January
9, 2006 letter and the recent January
25, 2006 letter of support, which describes
the changed value of the proposal.
PPC comments on BPA's Prototype DSI Contract: In
a January 6, 2006 letter to BPA’s Senior Vice President
Paul Norman, PPC emphasized that BPA should follow
through on its earlier warning that DSI benefits
might be reduced in response to increased costs
related to fish recovery. PPC also urged
BPA to resist requests to lower the minimum operating
level required of the DSIs in order to get benefits
and to resist requests to allow the DSIs to draw
benefits early from future years. Read the
comments here.
Other Recent PPC Correspondence to Federal Agencies:
Comments
to Corps of Engineers regarding Flood Control
Study (4/10/06)
Letter
to BPA regarding DSI Study, with attachment (4/9/06)
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