KWAPA is having its monthly board meeting on Tuesday July 1. 12:30 at the KWAPA/KWUA office.

Representatives from Pacificorp will have be there talking about transitioning from their power to BPA federal power.

Brief summery; Irrigators in the Klamath basin have been pursuing the possibility of connecting to BPA (federal power) to lower the cost of irrigation power. Federal power would be delivered to BOR for distribution. To make this power available to off-project loads would take Congregational  action. A study has recently been finished showing that there would be possible 3/4 to 1 cent savings to an irrigators over all power bill switching to federal power. There are also some issues with Pacificorp and potential costs if irrigators switch to BPA power. At this time KWAPA board has not made a decision as which way to go but they are close to making that decision.

The attachment to this email is a discussion and answers to a number of questions that where submitted to PC about transitioning to BPA power. Read the answer to question # 1. this alone (extortion) would be a deal breaker in switching to BPA power. It looks to me that the concept of lower irrigation power cost through  BPA will not materialize. 

The advantage or disadvantages of switching to federal power will be the topic of this KWAPA meeting. The meeting is open to the public.

Matt Walter

541-281-6827

PS   A personnel opinion (please take it as such); I do not believe PC has bargained in good faith as implied in the KHSA. We have been working on the federal power delivery concept (Interconnect Study) for more then 4 years. We have spent 1000's of man hours and 100k"s of tax payer dollars to get to where we are today. The conclusion of 3/4 to 1 cent benefit which in the words of the consultant "is in the margin of error" is a poor result for all the work. With the latest revelation from PC (see attachment) the fate of BPA power is most likely sealed. Had PC been forth coming with information and resources we could have come to this conclusion years ago and invested our resources more productively.  If I thought there was a benefit I would suggest to the UKWUA members to withdraw any support for the KHSA.