The Bonneville Power Administration kicked off its formal rate case for fiscal years 2026 to 2028 with a proposal that acknowledges a need to recover increased costs after more than a decade of transmission and power rates at or below inflation. Power rates (effective power Tier 1 rate) are proposed to increase by approximately 10.8% and transmission rates are proposed to increase by an average of 24%. Simultaneously, BPA initiated a tariff proceeding for a proposed tariff that will be effective starting in fiscal year 2026.
“We worked with our customers and other regional stakeholders to develop a plan to meet their increasing load and resource requirement needs, while also meeting our other statutory obligations,” said Joel Cook, chief operating officer for BPA. “The proposed rate increases comes from a combination of inflationary pressure along with greater investments in maintaining and upgrading our power, transmission, and other infrastructure. These investments are critically needed to position Bonneville to meet the growing energy needs of the Pacific Northwest region.”
BPA is a self-financing Power Marketing Administration and is legally required by statute to recover all of its costs through the rates it charges for producing and transmitting power throughout the Pacific Northwest. The proposed rates will be reviewed in a formal administrative hearing (BP-26 rate case), which continues until July 2025. If adopted, the proposed rates would go into effect October 1, 2025, and expire on September 30, 2028.
Along with rate adjustments, BPA also is proposing adjustments to the non-rate terms and conditions of its open access transmission tariff through a separate administrative process known as the TC-26 tariff proceeding. BPA held settlement discussions with prospective parties to the TC-26 and BP-26 proceedings in the fall that resulted in a settlement that became the initial proposal for updates and changes to BPA’s open access transmission tariff in the TC-26 tariff proceeding.
One aspect of the tariff settlement, the adoption of language and proposed charges related to Generator Interconnection Withdrawal Charge also resulted in a partial BP-26 rate settlement, which became part of the initial proposal for the BP-26 rate case.
Federal Register Notices for both the BP-26 and TC-26 were published on November 13 and the initial proposals were released November 22. With the publication of the Federal Register Notices, prohibitions of ex parte communications began. More information on ex parte can be found at the link below:
More information on the BP-26 Rate Case, including the initial proposal, can be found here:
https://www.bpa.gov/energy-
