CONTACT: Public Affairs, mediarelations@wapa.gov, 720.962.7411

​LAKEWOOD, Colorado – Western Area Power Administration announces a proposed power rate decrease to its customers in the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin next year due to the repayment of drought costs.  The proposed rate public process is scheduled to begin in late June with the publication of two Federal Register notices.

WAPA's Upper Great Plains and Rocky Mountain Regions began informal discussions with customers regarding anticipated firm power rate decreases due to repayment of drought costs from previous years. The firm power customers in the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program – Eastern Division and Loveland Area Projects are included in the discussions. 

The drought adder charge was created to repay the deferred drought costs incurred during periods of below-normal generation as a consequence of drought conditions. Based on the current and projected water and storage conditions and resulting generation forecasts, the final Power Repayment Study for 2016 indicates that the remaining unpaid drought costs are scheduled to be fully repaid in 2018. The current drought adder component of the firm power rates could go to zero on January 1, 2018, which would result in a rate decrease to WAPA customers. 

In addition, based on current work plans of WAPA, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers, WAPA identified a small increase in the base component of the firm power rate is needed. The net result of the two component changes represents a savings of roughly $40 million annually in power costs for customers across Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas and the western sections of Minnesota and Iowa.

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About WAPA: Western Area Power Administration annually markets and transmits more than 25,000 gigawatt hours of clean, renewable power from 57​ federal hydroelectric power plants owned and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 15 western and central states. It is part of the Department of Energy. Follow us on Twitter @WesternAreaPowr or visit the website at www.wapa.gov.