16 U.S.C. § 839e - Rates

• Cite as: 16 U.S.C. § 839e

(a) Establishment; periodic review and revision; confirmation and approval by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

(1) The Administrator shall establish, and periodically review and revise, rates for the sale and disposition of electric energy and capacity and for the transmission of non-Federal power. Such rates shall be established and, as appropriate, revised to recover, in accordance with sound business principles, the costs associated with the acquisition, conservation, and transmission of electric power, including the amortization of the Federal investment in the Federal Columbia River Power System (including irrigation costs required to be repaid out of power revenues) over a reasonable period of years and the other costs and expenses incurred by the Administrator pursuant to this chapter and other provisions of law. Such rates shall be established in accordance with sections 9 and 10 of the Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act ( 16 U.S.C. 838 ) [ 16 U.S.C. 838g and 838h ], section 5 of the Flood Control Act of 1944 [ 16 U.S.C. 825s ], and the provisions of this chapter.

(2) Rates established under this section shall become effective only, except in the case of interim rules as provided in subsection (i)(6), upon confirmation and approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission upon a finding by the Commission, that such rates-

(A) are sufficient to assure repayment of the Federal investment in the Federal Columbia River Power System over a reasonable number of years after first meeting the Administrator's other costs,

(B) are based upon the Administrator's total system costs, and

(C) insofar as transmission rates are concerned, equitably allocate the costs of the Federal transmission system between Federal and non-Federal power utilizing such system.

(b) General application of rates to meet general requirements

(1) The Administrator shall establish a rate or rates of general application for electric power sold to meet the general requirements of public body, cooperative, and Federal agency customers within the Pacific Northwest, and loads of electric utilities under section 839c(c) of this title. Such rate or rates shall recover the costs of that portion of the Federal base system resources needed to supply such loads until such sales exceed the Federal base system resources. Thereafter, such rate or rates shall recover the cost of additional electric power as needed to supply such loads, first from the electric power acquired by the Administrator under section 839c(c) of this title and then from other resources.

(2) After July 1, 1985, the projected amounts to be charged for firm power for the combined general requirements of public body, cooperative and Federal agency customers, exclusive of amounts charged such customers under subsection (g) for the costs of conservation, resource and conservation credits, experimental resources and uncontrollable events, may not exceed in total, as determined by the Administrator, during any year after July 1, 1985, plus the ensuing four years, an amount equal to the power costs for general requirements of such customers if, the Administrator assumes that-

(A) the public body and cooperative customers' general requirements had included during such five-year period the direct service industrial customer loads which are-

(i) served by the Administrator, and

(ii) located within or adjacent to the geographic service boundaries of such public bodies and cooperatives;

(B) public body, cooperative, and Federal agency customers were served, during such five-year period, with Federal base system resources not obligated to other entities under contracts existing as of December 5, 1980, (during the remaining term of such contracts) excluding obligations to direct service industrial customer loads included in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph;

(C) no purchases or sales by the Administrator as provided in section 839c(c) of this title were made during such five-year period;

(D) all resources that would have been required, during such five-year period, to meet remaining general requirements of the public body, cooperative and Federal agency customers (other than requirements met by the available Federal base system resources determined under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph) were-

(i) purchased from such customers by the Administrator pursuant to section 839d of this title, or