Transition Board Transmission Work Group
Meeting 15
November 18, 1997

Al Wright chaired the meeting of the Transmission Work Group at the Northwest Power Planning Council’s offices in Portland. About 30 people attended the meeting.

Don Matheson conducted a workshop on the Bonneville study of elasticity of demand for transmission, and potential effects of a surcharge on Bonneville transmission. Documentation of this study is in the form of Word documents and an Excel workbook. The discussion ran for more than 2 hours and covered the methodology and assumptions used in the study. Several members of the group questioned the assumptions regarding capacity factor and heat rate assumed for combustion turbines, which could provide an alternative to use of the transmission system for customers generating electricity for themselves. Assuming higher capacity factors and lower heat rates for these turbines, advocated by several in the group, would lower the level of surcharge at which some customers would stop using Bonneville’s transmission system. The changed assumptions could lower the net revenue that Bonneville would receive from a surcharge, at least in the 2.5 mills/kwh range.

The group then discussed the investor-owned utilities’ proposed legislation dealing with FERC regulation of Bonneville (see fercrg12.htm and fercrg13.htm). There are several other pieces of draft legislation circulating, and Al Wright proposed to take up their comparison and evaluation at the group’s next meeting on December 2. The meeting ended at about 1:20 p.m.