06/19/2020 Portland Update

Integrated Program Review (IPR) Kick-off

BPA’s IPR, which sets expense and capital budgets for BP-22, began this week. Reams of detailed materials were provided which NRU staff are still digging through and already have a list of clarifying questions to submit to BPA. The IPR comment deadline was pushed back to July 31st, so we have more time to share our analysis and proposed comments for your review and feedback. In the meantime, here is a high-level summary:

• Power’s costs are proposed to be held flat compared to BP-20. This represents about $63M of annual inflationary costs that were absorbed throughout BPA and its generating partners, Energy Northwest, the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation.

• Remember, IPR costs are only about 48% of the Tier 1 revenue requirement, so this cannot be directly translated to what the Tier 1 rate, which faces upward pressure due to increases in the residential exchange settlement, the final decision on the CRSO EIS and continuing low market prices for surplus sales.

• Transmission’s costs are contained to the rate of inflation to allow for sufficient funding for safety, compliance, reliability and market transformation activities. Transmission’s costs are proposed to increase about $24.7M/year compared to BP-20.

• It is highly likely there will be an IPR2 early next year to integrate changes due to the final CRSO EIS and to incorporate the latest information regarding COVID-19’s lasting economic impact.

BP-20E Rate Case, the FRP Surcharge Suspension

Staff continues to monitor the status of the expedited rate case being conducted to approve suspension of the FRP Surcharge. As we reported last week, no party submitted comments objecting to the suspension proposal but the deadline to intervene is Wednesday of next week. BPA has required that a petition to intervene must also affirmatively state whether the entity or person intends to object to the proposal in the Federal Register Notice (FRN) or the expedited process and schedule. Once the FRN is posted on June 22nd, ex parte rules will be in effect for the duration of the proceeding and information will be more difficult to obtain. The schedule for the remainder of the rate case is posted below for your reference.

Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) Electric Vehicle Study

BEF has released a final version of the EV cost/benefit study they presented at our November board meeting. The study focuses on the benefits of electric vehicle charging for Load Following customers of BPA. Please remember Megan Stratman played a crucial role in this report by supporting BEF analysis and ensuring BEF fully incorporated all the tenets of the Load Following product. There was strong interest in the study at that meeting, so we wanted to make sure members received the final summary of the study. BEF also produced a planning guide to support utilities in their efforts to advance EV charging in their service territories. Both the study summary and the planning guide produced by BEF are attached to this update for convenience. NRU enjoyed supporting this effort and we look forward to hearing how this study and/or the guide benefits our members.