Finally, some decent power news

On Friday, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) acting administrator Steven Wright announced that predicted wholesale power rate increases would be substantially less than predicted.

BPA had initially predicted wholesale rates could rise by 250 percent or more in October, when the public power utility can issue a cost recovery adjustment increase to its customers to recoup projected losses. Load reductions due to conservation measures and closures such as Intalco mean BPA will have to buy less power on the open market, and a favorable market means the utility will have to pay less for what it does have to buy. This translates to a projected increase in wholesale rates of 46 percent in October, which would translate to a rate increase of 20 percent or less for Blaine retail customers, according to city manager Gary Tomsic.

Initial predictions had been for Blaine rates to jump up to 100
percent.

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