Western Area Power Administration 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The formula rates for the Upper Great Plains (UGP) region's Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program (P-SMBP)Eastern Division (ED) firm power service, firm peaking power service, and sale of surplus products have been confirmed, approved, and placed into effect on an interim basis (Provisional Formula Rates). These new formula rates replace the existing formula rates for these services under Rate Schedules P-SED- F14, Firm Power Service; P-SED-FP14, Firm Peaking Power Service; and P- SED-M2, Sale of Surplus Products, which expire on December 31, 2027. The P-SMBPED firm power service composite rate is increasing over a 2-year period with a 7.5 percent increase on January 1, 2025, and an additional 6.2 percent increase on January 1, 2026. There are no changes to the formula rate for sale of surplus products.

The Department of Energy (DOE), Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), Desert Southwest Region (DSW), announces its Final 2028 Parker-Davis Project (P-DP) Power Marketing Plan (Final 2028 Plan) and issues a Call for Resource Pool Applications. This notice responds to comments received on the Proposed 2028 P-DP Power Marketing Plan (Proposed 2028 Plan). The Final 2028 Plan specifies the terms and conditions under which WAPA will market power from P-DP from October 1, 2028, through September 30, 2048. WAPA will offer new contracts for the sale of power to existing contractors and create a resource pool for potential new applicants. Entities who wish to apply for a new allocation of power from WAPA, and who meet the criteria defined in the Final 2028 Plan, must submit a formal application using the Applicant Profile Data (APD) form and must meet the Eligibility Criteria and Allocation Criteria described herein. The General Criteria and Contract Principles set forth in the Final 2028 Plan will apply to new allottees and existing contractors. This Final 2028 Plan supersedes all previous marketing plans for P-DP.

The Deputy Secretary confirms, approves, and places into effect on a final basis the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Desert Southwest Region's (DSW) fiscal year (FY) 2025 base charge and rates for Boulder Canyon Project (BCP) electric service under Rate Schedule BCP-F11. The FY 2025 base charge is unchanged from FY 2024 and will remain at $74.3 million.

The Upper Great Plains (UGP) region of the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) proposes revised formula rates for the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program (P-SMBP)Eastern Division (ED) firm power, firm peaking power service, and sale of surplus products. The existing formula rates for these services, under Rate Schedules P-SED-F14 and P- SED-FP14, and sale of surplus products, under formula rate schedule P- SED-M2, do not expire until December 31, 2027; however, the existing firm power and firm peaking power service rates no longer provide sufficient revenue to recover interest expense and repay investments. The formula rate for sale of surplus products is not changing but is being included in Rate Order No. WAPA-213 (WAPA-213) in order to make these rate schedules effective for the same time frame.

The extension of the Rocky Mountain (RM) region's existing Loveland Area Projects (LAP) transmission and LAP, Western Area Colorado Missouri Balancing Authority (WACM), and Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) ancillary services formula rates has been confirmed, approved, and placed into effect on an interim basis. The existing formula rates under Rate Schedules L-NT1 (network), L-FPT1 (firm point-to-point), L-NFPT1 (non-firm point-to-point), L-NFJDT (joint dispatch transmission), L-UU1 (unreserved use), L-AS1 (scheduling and dispatch), L-AS2 (reactive supply and voltage control support), L-AS3 (regulation), L-AS4 (energy imbalance), L-AS5 (spinning reserves), L-AS6 (supplemental reserves), L-AS7 (balancing authority real power losses), and L-AS9 (generator imbalance) are set to expire on September 30, 2024. This rate extension makes no changes to the existing formula rates and extends them through September 30, 2026.

The extension of the Colorado River Storage Project Management Center's (CRSP MC) existing Falcon and Amistad projects' firm power formula rate has been confirmed, approved, and placed into effect on an interim basis. The existing formula rate under Rate Schedule Falcon and Amistad Projects' Firm Power Formula Rate is set to expire on June 7, 2024. This rate extension makes no change to the existing formula rate and extends it through June 7, 2029.

Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) Management Center (MC), a federal Power Marketing Administration of the Department of Energy (DOE), announces its Final Allocation of Provo River Project Power. WAPA's Final 2025 Provo River Project Marketing Plan and Call for 2025 Resource Pool Applications (Marketing Plan) was published in the Federal Register on March 17, 2023. Applications for an allocation of Provo River Project power were due June 15, 2023. WAPA reviewed and considered the single application received and published the 2025 Provo River Project Resource Pool Proposed Power Allocation in the Federal Register on October 31, 2023. The 60-day comment period for the proposed allocations closed on January 2, 2024. WAPA received and considered two formal comments. This Federal Register notice establishes the Final Allocation of Provo River Project Power.

The Rocky Mountain Region (RM) of the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) proposes to extend existing formula rates (without any changes) for the Loveland Area Projects (LAP), the Western Area Colorado Missouri Balancing Authority (WACM), and the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) through September 30, 2026. The existing rates RM proposes to extend are: L-NT1 (network), L-FPT1 (firm point- to- point), L-NFPT1 (non-firm point-to-point), L-NFJDT (joint dispatch transmission), L-UU1 (unreserved use), L-AS1 (scheduling and dispatch), L-AS2 (reactive supply and voltage control (VAR) support), L-AS3 (regulation), L-AS4 (energy imbalance), L-AS5 (spinning reserves), L- AS6 (supplemental reserves), L-AS7 (balancing authority (BA) real power losses), and L-AS9 (generator imbalance). The existing rates expire on September 30, 2024.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has submitted an information collection request to the OMB for extension under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The information collection requests a 3-year extension of Western Area Power Administration's (WAPA) Applicant Profile Data (APD), OMB Control Number 1910-5136. The proposed collection is necessary for the proper performance of WAPA's functions. WAPA markets a limited amount of Federal hydropower. Due to the high demand for WAPA's power, WAPA needs the ability to collect information under the information collection request in order to evaluate who may receive an allocation of Federal power pursuant to specific marketing plans. This APD public process only determines the information WAPA will collect in its information collection request. The actual allocation of Federal power will be conducted through a separate marketing plan process outside the scope of this APD process.