Department of Energy November 18, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

BPA is holding a consolidated rate proceeding, Docket No. BP- 12, to establish power and transmission rates for FY 2012-2013. The purpose of this Federal Register Notice is to provide notice of the proposed power rates and the rates for control area services and certain ancillary services (listed below, Section IV.C.). BPA will issue a separate Federal Register Notice to provide notice of the proposed transmission rates and the rates for the other ancillary services. The Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act (Northwest Power Act) provides that BPA must establish and periodically review and revise its rates so that they are adequate to recover, in accordance with sound business principles, the costs associated with the acquisition, conservation, and transmission of electric power, including amortization of the Federal investment in the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) over a reasonable number of years and BPA's other costs and expenses. The Northwest Power Act also requires that BPA's rates be established based on the record of a formal hearing, and for transmission rates only, that the costs of the Federal transmission system be equitably allocated between Federal and non-Federal power utilizing the system. By this notice, BPA announces the commencement of a rate adjustment proceeding for proposed power rates, control area services rates, and certain ancillary services rates that will be effective on October 1, 2011. In the near future, BPA will begin a Residential Exchange Program (REP) Settlement Proceeding, Docket No. REP-12. This separate docket will provide a forum to review the terms and conditions of a proposed 17-year settlement of litigation regarding BPA's implementation of the REP. Even though the proposed REP settlement involves issues interrelated with the establishment of power rates for the FY 2012-2013 rate period, BPA has chosen to exclude certain issues from the development of power rates in the BP-12 rate proceeding and address them in the REP-12 proceeding. Specifically, the REP-12 proceeding will address whether BPA should adopt the REP settlement, issues regarding the terms of the REP settlement, the implementation of the section 7(b)(2) rate test, the implementation of the section 7(b)(3) allocation, the forecast of utilities' Average System Costs (ASC), the amount and application of the remaining Lookback balance, and the allocation of REP costs to BPA's power rates. The REP-12 proceeding will conclude prior to the publication of final studies and the issuance of the Record of Decision (ROD) in BP-12. The final decisions in REP-12 will be incorporated into the final studies and power rate calculations in BP-12. See section II.D.12.