BPA Cost Recovery Charge Increasing April 1
March 7, 2006
At its February meeting, Columbia River PUD's Board of Directors approved an increase in the BPA Cost Recovery Adjustment (CRAC) Charge on customer bills. The charge is increasing from $0.0042/kWh to $0.007/kWh for all bills rendered after April 1, 2006.
This change is the result of an increase in wholesale power costs from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). BPA implemented the CRAC charge in 2001 to recover extraordinary costs resulting from the energy crisis in 2000/2001. The Board of Directors made the CRAC charge a separate line item on customer bills to simplify the process of accounting for changes in these costs.
The Board reviews the charge every six months and adjusts the line item on customer bills in April and October.
"We made the CRAC charge a separate line item to follow the increases and decreases in the CRAC amount we pay to BPA," said PUD General Manager Kevin Owens. "This method has made it much simpler to track the variations in our power costs."
The PUD's base rates have remained unchanged since October 2001.###
For more information, contact Libby Calnon, PUD Communication Specialist, at lca@crpud.org or (503) 366-3264.
Columbia River People's Utility District provides electric service to 17,800 customers in Columbia and Multnomah Counties in Oregon.
The PUD employs 48 people and had FY2005 gross revenues of $27 million.