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| BPA fights unfair power distribution throughout the Northwest  The Bonneville Power Administration informed six Northwest investor-owned utilities that, due to the uncertainty created by the recent Ninth Circuit Court rulings, BPA must immediately suspend payments that reduce rates for their residential and small-farm customers. The investor-owned utilities that are impacted are Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp, Avista, Puget Sound Energy, Idaho Power and NorthWestern Energy.BPA must suspend the payments because its officials are personally liable if payments are made that are not consistent with law. In this case, the court's rulings have created substantial question whether continuing the payments is consistent with law. The payments average about $28 million a month. BPA's action follows a May 3 ruling in which the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that certain BPA actions in entering residential exchange settlements with the investor-owned utilities providing residential exchange benefits were not consistent with the Northwest Power Act. The litigation was brought by some of the region's public utilities. BPA is a not-for-profit federal agency that markets about 40 percent of the electricity consumed in the Pacific Northwest. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |