Northwest Energy Review Transition Board	John Etchart, Montana
851 S.W. Sixth Avenue, Suite 1100 Portland, Oregon 97204-1348	Roy Hemmingway, Oregon
Phone 503-222-5161 or 1-800-452-5161 FAX 503-795-3370	Mike Kreidler, Washington
	Todd Maddock, Idaho

Transition Board Transmission Work Group

Meeting 11

September 3, 1997

Al Wright chaired the eleventh meeting of the Transmission Work Group at the Northwest Power Planning Council’s offices in Portland. The meeting went from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. About 30 people attended.

The main agenda item was continued discussion of the definition of equivalent FERC regulation for the BPA transmission business. Shelly Richardson presented the collective thinking of several public power groups including the Public Power Council, Washington Public Agency Group, Public Generating Pool, Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative, Northwest Requirements Utilities and others. Shelly noted that the views she shared have not been officially blessed by all of the parties she was speaking for.

Shelly presented public power’s recommendations for FERC standards for BPA. Their paper responded to the same list of topics that were previously considered by others, including the direct service industries and the investor-owned utilities. The group spent most of the meeting quizzing Shelly about public power’s responses. A major area of discussion surrounded FERC’s authority/role in determining which costs would be covered in transmission rates and the relationship between the BPA administrator and the administrative law judge from FERC. Public power also introduced an additional question regarding historic rate design for others to respond to.

Al Wright committed that he and the Council staff would merge the ideas from several different papers, including Bonneville’s, in preparation for the next meeting. He asked that people provide any changes or additions to their papers to the Council staff by early next week. Al envisioned creating a matrix to make comparison easier. His hope is that at the next meeting the work group can begin to reach closure on some of the issues or at least more accurately articulate the differences of opinion. It was suggested that the group look for areas where everyone has the same goal in mind and see if there is an acceptable way to achieve those goals.

The group spent a few minutes discussing what Al should include in his progress report to the Transition Board on September 9. Those present agreed that: The group has investigated the ability to split the BPA fund and concluded that we should avoid doing so if possible; the group is in the midst of analyzing the question of equivalent FERC regulation for Bonneville and there is a wide range of opinions; and the group hasn’t touched the question of governance for new Bonneville organizations that are legally separated.

The next meeting of the work group is scheduled for 9:00 AM, September 16, 1997 at the Northwest Power Planning Council office at 851 S.W. 6th Ave. Portland.