The four Northwest governors recently sent a joint letter to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) supporting BPA’s actions to avoid huge, wholesale rate increases and resulting damage to the Northwest region’s economy.

“Curtailments of aluminum company operations and cuts in utility purchases of federal power will impose significant costs, but a nearly four-fold increase in BPA rates will do even greater harm to Northwest households and businesses,” the governors said.

BPA acting administrator Steve Wright last week urged utilities and industries that have yet to commit to reduce their power purchases from BPA to do so (see Daily GPI, June 8). In their letter, the Northwest governors urged all Northwest utilities, public and private, to participate in efforts to reduce purchases from BPA, adding that “the only way for it to succeed is if all utilities pledge a comparable reduction.”

The executives said they “strongly support” the recent agreement with Alcoa that relieves BPA of the obligation to purchase power for the company’s plants while energy prices are too high to allow economical operations. The governors said that the agreement, which compensates idled workers, should be “the template for your agreements with other aluminum companies.”

Wright said he was glad to have the governors’ support for BPA’s plan to hold new wholesale rates below 100%. The new rates will go into effect Oct. 1. “The load reductions we are urging will be difficult for many utilities to achieve,” Wright said. “But the governors clearly think that such efforts will bring the best possible outcome for everyone in the region,” he added. “We are grateful to them for this strong statement of support.”

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