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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels September 24, 2004 Bonneville rate reduction should help Ashland By Bill Choy Ashland Daily Tidings Power rates in Ashland could drop between 5 and 7.5 percent with the recent announcement of rate reductions from Bonneville Power set for October. Dick Wanderscheid, city electric and telecommunications director, said they are still working with their BPA account representative to figure out the exact reductions for Ashland, but he estimated the rates will be reduced from 5 percent to 7.5 percent following Bonneville's 7.5-percent cut. "This is good news," he said. "We just need to sit down with our account representative, crunch the numbers and see what it means for Ashland," Wanderscheid hopes to present the final figures to the Ashland City Council at its Oct. 19 meeting. Ed Mosey, spokesperson for the BPA, said they have been working to reduce rates since they jumped 46 percent after the West Coast Energy crisis in 2001. Mosey estimated wholesale rates would drop from 33 dollars per megawatt to about 31 dollars per megawatt. The rate reduction was announced on Sept. 16. "They have been talking about [the reduction] for a long time," Wanderscheid said. "But things just had to align just right." Cost cutting and a positive outlook for sales revenues made the reduction possible, BPA Administrator Steve Wright said in a press release. "This is the result of more than two years of hard work by many parties throughout the region and particularly the BPA staff to take responsible actions that can benefit the region's economy," he said. The BPA reduced costs by $70 million since the rates were last set in 2003. Another $350 million in savings is forecast for 2005 and 2006. Wright said more than half of these reductions were secured last June through agreements with investor-owned utilities about their benefits from the Federal Colombia River Power System. "I am especially heartened the BPA was able to take this positive step despite five consecutive years of low stream flows in the Columbia Basin," Wright said. "The rate reduction effectively leaves $123 million in the pockets of Northwest ratepayers." A majority of the lower costs resulted from lower interest rates as well as the BPA's debt refinancing, and reducing its own expenses, such as travel and training. The federal agency, based in Portland, provides about half of the electricity in the Northwest. Mosey said the BPA hopes to bring in more revenue from selling surplus energy, mainly to California, which will help determine the rates for the next fiscal year, which beings in October 2005. He estimated the chances of the reduction at about "50-50." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams