PR 79 05
BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2005
BPA makes U.S. Treasury payment in full and on time
PORTLAND, Ore. -
Despite the sixth below average water year in a row, the Bonneville Power Administration paid the U.S. Treasury $1.088 billion for fiscal year 2005, which ended Sept. 30. This is a full annual payment, with interest, on the U.S. taxpayer investment in the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS), which includes the federal hydropower dams and transmission system.
"For the 22nd year in a row - something we take great pride in - we made our payment to the U.S. Treasury on time and in full by Sept. 30," said BPA Administrator Steve Wright. "Good market prices and stringent cost management combined to make it possible for us to meet our revenue targets despite a sixth year of below average water and a court decision that required more costly spill at Columbia and Snake River dams."
BPA is a self-financed agency that covers its costs with revenues from Northwest ratepayers and other purchasers of its power and transmission products and services. BPA receives no annual appropriations from the U.S. Congress.
The Treasury payment included $616.5 million in principal and $400.7 million in interest. BPA also paid $70.8 million in other obligations, including $26.5 million to assure that ratepayers, not taxpayers, fully fund post-retirement benefit programs for FCRPS employees.
The $616.5 million principal payment includes $313 million in early retirement of Treasury debt (principal repaid earlier than planned) as part of BPA's debt optimization program. Under that program, BPA is refinancing a portion of its nonfederal debt at lower interest rates while retiring a portion of its higher interest federal debt. Of the $313 million prepayment, $123 million was applied to power-related debt and $190 million to transmission-related debt. The respective power and transmission rates will recover the costs associated with the new nonfederal debt.
The Treasury payment also includes $103.5 million in credits to BPA for non-hydroelectric costs Congress has assigned to taxpayers to repay. The largest of these are fish credits of $45.5 million for fish costs assigned to the non-hydroelectric benefits of the federal dams that had been paid by BPA. These multipurpose dams exist for flood control, irrigation, recreation and other uses as well as for hydropower production.
In addition to the Treasury payment, BPA paid operation and maintenance expenses for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service projects directly funded by BPA. This direct funding came to $211.5 million this year.
Submitted for distribution on 10-05-2005 at 12:25 PM
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