Current Issues

Here are several key issues that BPA Watch will examine in the coming months.

Federal Court Decisions

A federal appeals court has ruled that BPA’s formula for making cash payments to six private power companies violated the Northwest Power Act. The court decisions are the latest chapter in the dispute between “public power” and “private power.” Click here to read more (PDF 720KB) and learn why Franklin Roosevelt’s 1932 campaign speech in Portland, Oregon, still matters.

Regional Dialogue

That’s the name BPA has given to its efforts to write new 20-year power sales contracts with its utility and industrial customers. What BPA puts in those contracts will affect your retail power rates for two decades.

Fish and Wildlife

BPA’s fish and wildlife programs cost its customers about $750 million a year in expenses and lost revenues. Where does the money go?

Management and Efficiency

BPA has 3,000 employees. Three years ago, at the request of several customers, BPA hired a management consulting company, KEMA, to analyze BPA’s internal operations. KEMA’s reports concluded among other things that:

BPA spent $97 million a year in FY 2005 in the information technology (“IT”) area. BPA had 519 full-time and contract employees working on IT, and spent about $21,000 per employee on IT costs, roughly twice the utility industry average.

BPA had so many human resources (personnel) management staff that it was 20% higher than other federal agencies. BPA’s 15 recruitment staff processed 6,300 applications and hired 72 new employees in FY 2004, for instance, while the Tennessee Valley Authority (“TVA”), a federal corporation, processed 25,000 applications with a staff of only 8 recruitment specialists.

BPA insists that needed internal reforms have been accomplished and more are underway. What remains to be done?