BPA's rate cuts not likely to trickle down.Byline: Joe Harwood Harwood may refer to: People with the surname Harwood:
The Bonneville Power Administration The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is a U.S. self-financed federal agency which transmits and sells wholesale electricity in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana. The BPA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. on Thursday said it will lower some wholesale electricity rates by 7.5 percent beginning Oct. 1. But most Lane County area ratepayers will not see any relief. A series of cost-cutting measures worth about $70 million, plus $350 million in future savings resulting from a settlement with investor-owned utilities, prompted the rate cut, the BPA BPA British Paediatric Association. said Thursday. The cut will occur despite a fifth consecutive low-water year, which reduces the amount of water flowing through a network of 27 Columbia and Snake river Snake River River, northwestern U.S. It is the largest tributary of the Columbia River and one of the most important streams in the Pacific Northwest. It rises in the mountains of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and flows south and west through Idaho, turning north at hydroelectric dams that the BPA oversees. Those dams supply almost half of the power to the Northwest states. The BPA sells the power to utilities throughout the region, who resell re·sell tr.v. re·sold , re·sell·ing, re·sells 1. To sell again. 2. To sell (a product or service) to the public or to an end user, especially as an authorized dealer. it to customers. The wholesale decrease will reduce the Eugene Water & Electric Board's costs by $1.3 million, said Lance Robertson Lance Robertson is an American musician,disc jockey, and actor. Originally from St. Louis, MO, Lance relocated to Los Angeles. Lance became well known in the LA indie rock scene from his band, The Raymakers and while working his day job at Amoeba Records. , EWEB EWEB Eugene Water and Electric Board (Oregon) spokesman. But that rate relief covers only about one-third of the electricity the utility buys from the federal power marketing agency. EWEB buys the remainder of its BPA power through a method that allocates a negotiated percentage of total output from the dams. In EWEB's case, that "slice" of generation is about 4 percent. The BPA is increasing rates for these slice customers, and EWEB will have to pay almost $4.4 million more under that system, Robertson said. The net result is a cost increase to EWEB of about $3.1 million, he said. Those higher costs are included in EWEB's proposed 5.4 percent rate increase, which EWEB is expected to approve next month. The bulk of EWEB's proposed hike stems from a more conservative budget assumption for 2005. The utility will assume that river flows will be lower than normal for hydroelectric generation purposes, which would mean lower revenues to EWEB from selling that power. The Springfield Utility Board also will hold rates steady. "We're not going to change rates," SUB General Manager Steve Loveland said. "We don't see any change (in rates) next year, either." The Emerald People's Utility District, however, will cut rates. Like every other utility in the Northwest, EPUD EPUD Emerald People's Utility District (Eugene, OR) EPUD Emerald People's Utility Department (Eugene, OR) passed along to customers the BPA rate hikes following the 2000-01 West Coast energy crisis. Frank Lambe, EPUD general manager, said the BPA wholesale rate reduction now means the utility can reduce customer rates by an average of 4.4 percent. That translates into a decrease of about $4 on the average monthly bill. Officials at Lane Electric Cooperative were crunching the numbers late Thursday and didn't yet know what type of rate action, if any, might be taken as a result of the BPA wholesale cut. |
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