BPA released its Draft Record of Decision in the BP-16 Rate Proceeding on the afternoon of Friday, June 12, 2015. Here is a link to the draft: BP-16 Rate Case website. The decisions in the Draft ROD are not final. Parties to the rate case may make comments on the Draft ROD and file their briefs on exceptions July 1, for the administrator to consider before making his final decisions. The administrator will make his final decisions in the Final ROD which they expect to issue July 24, 2015.
The draft decisions may be modified based on additional comments (briefs on exceptions) from the rate case parties. The Draft ROD does not contain forecasts of final rates. New information since the original release of the initial proposal may cause final rates to change. These include events unknown at the time of the initial proposal, such as Alcoa’s decision to purchase less output from BPA, IPR2 decisions, as well as updated data, such as new market price forecasts, changes in load forecasts and actual fiscal year 2014 financial results such as plant-in-service and depreciation. The actual fiscal impact will not be known until final rates are determined in July.
Of interest to the energy efficiency community, this section of the Draft ROD. "Staff did not address this topic in testimony because the development and implementation of BPA’s Energy Efficiency program are outside the scope of the rate proceeding. 79 Fed. Reg. 71,984, 71,986 (Dec. 4, 2014). Nonetheless, BPA understands its customers’ desire to engage with BPA on the EE program. BPA is preparing to conduct additional dialogue with customers, the Council, and constituents about how to support regional energy efficiency achievements as part of a broader discussion on the agency’s long-term cost structure and service delivery models beginning in the fall of 2015."