| 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 13
September 30, 1997
Al Wright chaired meeting number 13 of the Transmission Work Group at the Northwest Power Planning Council’s offices in Portland. The meeting went from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. About 30 people attended.
The meeting opened with Paul Majkut describing the status of 3 studies/reports:
1) A "benchmark" study, evaluated by Putnam Hayes Bartlett in 1966, that compared BPA’s effectiveness in its operations. This study will be presented in the October 9 "Meeting with External Parties" as part of a public meeting
2) The "demand elasticity" or bypass study of BPA’s transmission. BPA hopes to release this study in October.
3) An account of BPA’s financial reserves, separated between the power marketing business line and the transmission line. Ron Homenick was prepared to present this account later in the meeting.
The group discussed the status of the various proposals for Federal legislation on utility industry restructuring. An increased degree of FERC oversight of BPA seems likely, but specifics are unclear.
The group tried to return to its discussion of FERC regulation of BPA, but some parties thought that they could not agree to specifics of this issue until the transition cost issue was settled. The group spent some time exchanging views on the usefulness of discussing FERC regulation of BPA before settling transition costs. In the end, discussion of FERC regulation was postponed. Al Wright urged all parties to treat our next meeting on November 4 as a deadline for dealing with transition costs, and to include more parties in discussions of transition costs in the meantime. The group agreed to be ready to discuss transition cost proposals on November 4.
The meeting ended with a presentation by Ron Homenick of BPA on the separation of BPA’s financial reserves by business line.