This report describes an analysis of the Bonneville Power Administration's potential financial situation under a range of future electricity market conditions and possible fish and wildlife mitigation scenarios. The objective of this report is to assist decision-makers in making better-informed decisions regarding the long-term value of the Bonneville system and its nearer term ability to recover its costs. The work was carried out by the staff of the Northwest Power Planning Council with the participation and oversight of representatives of the key interest groups concerned with Bonneville's financial condition.
The metric used in evaluating Bonneville's situation is potential net revenue - the difference between the value of Bonneville's electricity production evaluated at market prices and Bonneville's costs. Using market value is not a recommendation that Bonneville sell at market prices. It does, however, provide a measure of the competitiveness of Bonneville generation. What this metric shows is the value to customers of buying all of Bonneville's product at cost relative to the alternative of purchasing the same product at market prices.