By Dameon Pesanti

The Columbian

The Bonneville Power Administration is proposing to raise its wholesale power rate by 3.5 percent and increasing transmission rates by 1.1 percent for years 2018 and 2019.

BPA is a federal agency that sells hydropower and transmission services to 142 public utilities in the Pacific Northwest, including Clark Public Utilities. In the short term, Clark PUD customers likely won’t seen an increase in their rates.

“The BPA rate increases are every two years and our budgeting is annual. The proposed 2017 Clark Public Utilities budget does not indicate a rate increase. And rates have not increased since 2011,” said Clark Public Utilities spokeswoman Erica Erland.

Clark buys about 60 percent of its power from the BPA.

BPA’s rate-setting process starts this month. A decision is set for July 2017. The new rates will take effect Oct. 1, 2017.

For the two-year rate period, BPA’s proposed increase is 3.5 percent or 1.7 percent annually, according to a news release. The average proposed wholesale power rate is $33.75 per megawatt hour.

BPA says half the increases are necessary because of higher program costs, including the operating and maintenance fees it pays other agencies to run hydropower facilities, and the rising costs of the fish and wildlife mitigation program. The other half of the increases are caused by lower forecasted sales due to a declining load loss and a projected slight decline in power generation. BPA makes some of its money by delivering power generated by private utilities.

Many BPA customers will see a lower proposed rate increase of 2.3 percent because of a one-time credit resulting from savings related to the Regional Cooperation Debt transactions initiated in 2014.

The transmission services rate will rise 0.5 percent annually. BPA claims the transmission rate increase is less than the rate of inflation, but it will still provide reliable transmission service to customers while still investing in substantial capital projects during between 2018 and 2019.

In order to strengthen its financial health and credit rating, BPA is proposing a policy to build financial reserves to targeted levels.

“BPA is committed to working with customers and other constituents to identify additional cost-management alternatives through the IPR 2 process,” Elliot Mainzer, BPA’s administrator and CEO, said in the release.