SWRTA Files Amended Bylaws With Federal Energy Regulators.

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1995--The Southwest Regional Transmission Association (SWRTA), a voluntary group of more than two dozen bulk-transmission owners, operators and users in the southwestern United States, will file its amended Bylaws with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on June 26.

SWRTA originally filed its Bylaws with FERC on June 14, 1994. On Oct. 24, 1994, FERC approved SWRTA's Bylaws, but conditioned the approval on SWRTA addressing two principal issues: the agreement of all transmitting utility members to provide comparable transmission service, and the establishment of a transmission planning process that results in a single regional plan. The amended Bylaws address both these issues and incorporate certain modifications ordered by FERC.

"The western United States is home to a very active -- and efficient -- wholesale power market," said Harlow Peterson, a Salt River Project corporate planning analyst and the co-chair of the SWRTA Working Group. "Consumers have benefitted from this market through the buying and selling of economically priced bulk power. In some cases, customers have enjoyed electric-rate reductions, or an absence of rate increases, because of bulk-power transactions."

SWRTA's filing follows FERC's acceptance of the Governing Agreement of the Western Regional Transmission Association (WRTA), another group of transmission users and owners in parts of the western United States.

"SWRTA's certification as a regional transmission group (RTG) will bring additional economic benefit through better transmission access in the six states where SWRTA members operate," Peterson said. "SWRTA's members and FERC agree that, under certain conditions, technical disputes about transmission availability should be solved locally rather than in a courtroom in Washington, D.C."

Addressing FERC's comparability requirement, SWRTA's members have decided that each member owning or having contractual rights to transmission will develop individual comparable service tariffs. Each Transmitting Utility Member that is jurisdictional at FERC under Sections 205 and 206 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) will file or have on file its comparable transmission service tariff with FERC. Transmitting Utility Members not subject to FPA Sections 205 and 206 will file or have on file their comparable transmission service tariffs with the president of SWRTA's board.

Regarding regional transmission planning, FERC's other condition, SWRTA's transmission-planning process is open to other interested parties. A single regional transmission plan will be prepared every two years with members' transmissions plans made available to the entire western United States. The openness of the process and the availability of information from SWRTA members will facilitate the selection and construction of economically efficient projects in the regional transmission plan.

Transmission projects developed by SWRTA will include those developed by individual members, those that result from transmission requests, and joint projects developed to meet the needs of several members.

In its filing, SWRTA reiterated its members' interest in coordinating with WRTA and other RTGs, and noted that members will continue to work on interface issues. The coordination between SWRTA and other RTGs will continue to evolve over time.

SWRTA's diverse membership includes public and investor-owned utilities, transmission-dependent utilities, non-utility power producers and power marketers in parts of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah.

SWRTA's membership will include: Arizona Power Authority; Arizona Power Pooling Association; Arizona Public Service Co.; Buckeye Conservation and Drainage District; Central Arizona Water Conservation District; Electrical District No. 3; Electrical District No. 4; Electrical District No. 5; Gallup Joint Utilities; Imperial Irrigation District; LG&E Power Marketing; Maricopa Water District; Navajo Tribal Utility Authority; City of Needles, Calif.; Nevada Power Co.; PECO Energy; Plains Electric Generation & Transmission Cooperative; Public Service Company of New Mexico; Roosevelt Irrigation District; City of Safford, Ariz.; Salt River Project; Southern California Edison Co.; Tonopah Irrigation District; Tucson Electric Power Co.; Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District; Western Area Power Administration - Phoenix Area Office; and Western Area Power Administration - Salt Lake City Area Office.

CONTACT: Salt River Project, Phoenix

John Egan, 602/236-3510