Bonneville electricity costs going up for EWEB
The Eugene Water & Electric Board will see its Bonneville
Power Administration power-purchasing costs increase by more than $3 million
this fall.
That's because a wholesale rate decrease Bonneville is
expected to announce this week affects less than a third of the electricity
EWEB purchases from the federal power-marketing agency. Power costs actually
are rising significantly for the other two-thirds of the 285 average megawatts
of power EWEB buys from Bonneville to meet customers' energy needs.
Bonneville's rate action will lower the cost of the one-third
block of power EWEB purchases by about $1.3 million. However, the latest
information from BPA indicates that costs will increase by almost $4.4
million for the other two-thirds of the electricity EWEB buys from Bonneville.
The net result is a cost increase to EWEB of about $3.1 million.
Higher BPA costs are included as part of EWEB's proposed
5.4 percent rate increase, which EWEB commissioners will consider adopting
following a public hearing on Oct. 5. The latest information from Bonneville
indicates that BPA-related costs will be higher than what is currently
included in the EWEB rate proposal. EWEB will be factoring this latest
information from Bonneville into its rate proposal and it may result in
a change in the proposed rate increase.
EWEB purchases about 70 percent of its power from Bonneville.
The remaining electricity comes from EWEB's own power-generation facilities
and from other sources. EWEB is projected to have retail electricity sales
of about $160 million this year.
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