​FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 5, 2018

CONTACT: Lisa Meiman, mediarelations@wapa.gov, 720-962-7411

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Western Area Power Administration published its Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Report titled “Value of WAPA.” 

The report’s theme captures the benefits of working with the federal power marketing administration to adapt to and accommodate an industry undergoing more significant change than it has in the past 50 years. 

“WAPA was built on a legacy of energizing the West. Our customers, neighbors and partners benefit from both the value of federal hydropower and the value of federal partnership,” said Administrator and CEO Mark A. Gabriel. “Our job is to continue to fulfill our public service mission while finding ways to increase our value—to serve like our lights depend on it.”

Over the year, WAPA employees responded to new operational realities, such as organized markets, renewable generation, security threats, catastrophic natural disasters, fewer trading partners and changing customer needs while also maintaining or decreasing rates for 80 percent of its preference power customers.

In this report, WAPA shares its successes in:

  • Keeping pace with industry development
  • Hardening against physical and cyber threats
  • Investing in assets
  • Complying with regulatory drivers
  • Improving organizational alignment 

“These efforts prepare us for the future, they mitigate risk, they increase reliability and resilience, they strengthen the grid, they reduce our costs, and they keep the economies of rural America running. That is the value of WAPA,” said Gabriel.

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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 powerplants owned and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and International Boundary and Water Commission 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.   

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Last modified on September 12th, 2023