BPA Announces Rate Increase
It will be a 7.8% increase in the wholesale power rate from Bonneville Power Administration that will be charged to consumer-owned cooperative utilities beginning October 1st. …but don’t look for that entire increase to show up in a Lower Valley Energy Bill. LVE Spokesman Brian Tanabe says the board will be discussing the announced increase, and in all likelihood, the increase that will be seen by consumer/members will be closer to 3.9%. Tanabe says only half of the rate charged here is the cost of power while the rest is the cost of the delivery system. As a result, he says, the cooperative is able to absorb some of the rate increase charged by BPA. When BPA officials announced the new rates this week, they explained they will support needed improvements to the region’s dams and nuclear power plant. BPA says their rate might have been higher except they have relied more heavily on loans from the US Treasury.
