[House Report 115-282]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
115th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 115-282
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WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION TRANSPARENCY ACT
_______
August 29, 2017.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 2371]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 2371) to require the Administrator of the
Western Area Power Administration to establish a pilot project
to provide increased transparency for customers, and for other
purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon
without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 2371 is to require the Administrator of
the Western Area Power Administration to establish a pilot
project to provide increased transparency for customers.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
H.R. 2371 requires the Administrator of the Western Area
Power Administration (WAPA) to establish a pilot project to
increase transparency of WAPA's costs, rates, staffing and
other financial and operational dealings.
Under numerous federal statutes, the Bureau of Reclamation
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers generate hydropower at
federal dams and reservoirs. Hydropower generated at these
facilities, particularly in the western United States, is first
used to provide electricity to operate irrigation pumps
affiliated with Reclamation projects. Any excess power is then
primarily sold by the Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) to
preference customers, which, by federal statute, are non-profit
rural electric cooperatives, public utility districts, Indian
tribes, municipalities and some irrigation districts. The power
is sold at rates designed to repay the federal capital
investment in federal electricity generation and transmission
facilities, annual operation and maintenance of such
facilities, and federal staffing. The rate structures are
followed pursuant to 20 to 50 year contracts between the
wholesale customers and the federal government. With a few
exceptions, the PMA budgets are designed to be financed 100% by
ratepayers, as all initial appropriations are reimbursed.
The PMAs--WAPA, Bonneville Power Administration,
Southwestern Power Administration and Southeastern Power
Administration--market and deliver (via transmission lines)
electricity generated at these federal facilities. According to
WAPA, the agency markets and delivers annually an average of
10,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity produced at Reclamation
and Corps dams. WAPA serves about 700 wholesale customers in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming through a 17,000-mile federal
transmission system. These wholesale customers, in turn, supply
50 million retail customers.
WAPA's roughly $1 billion budget is financed by annual
customer funding and advance payments and appropriations, which
are then reimbursed, with interest, through customer
contractual repayment obligations. As is the case with all
PMAs, WAPA must market power produced at federal hydroelectric
facilities at the lowest possible rates consistent with sound
business principles. Some customers have called for increased
transparency over WAPA's business practices given rate increase
trends and discrepancies between budgeted and executed dollar
amounts. For example, at a May 18, 2017, Water, Power and
Oceans Subcommittee hearing, Mr. Patrick Ledger, Chief
Executive Officer at for Arizona Electric Power Cooperative
testified: ``. . . what is missing from the presentation from
[WAPA] and conversations with [WAPA] officials on the use of
budget authority is granularity that would help PMA customers
understand why rates continue to increase.'' WAPA has taken
steps to be more transparent in an effort to address some of
the concerns raised by customers. For example, on March 17,
2016, WAPA created a website called ``The Source'', which
displays some of its financial operations and operational data.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1 states the short title of the bill as the
``Western Area Power Administration Transparency Act.''
Section 2 requires the Administrator of WAPA to establish a
publicly available website that contains: rates charged to
customers by power system; the amount of energy or capacity
sold by power system; a detailed accounting of expenditures,
capital costs, and staffing at headquarters and each region;
and capital expenditures expended including the sources of
capital for each investment. Additionally, this section
requires the Administrator to make publicly available online an
annual summary that would include updates to documents listed
above; the total amount of unobligated balances broken down by
function and authority; and the anticipated unobligated balance
levels for the next year.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 2371 was introduced on May 4, 2017, by Congressman
Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ). The bill was referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee
on Water, Power and Oceans. On May 18, 2017, the Subcommittee
on Water, Power and Oceans held a hearing on the bill. On July
25, 2017, the Natural Resources Committee met to consider the
bill. The Subcommittee was discharged by unanimous consent. No
amendments were offered, and the bill was ordered favorably
reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous consent
on July 26, 2017.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act of
1974. With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and
(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives
and sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, the Committee has received the enclosed cost estimate for
the bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, August 16, 2017.
Hon. Rob Bishop.
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 2371, the Western
Area Power Administration Transparency Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Kathleen
Gramp.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
H.R. 2371--Western Area Power Administration Transparency Act
H.R. 2371 would direct the Western Area Power
Administration (WAPA) to make more information about its
financial operations available to the public. WAPA is an agency
within the Department of Energy that markets electricity
produced at federally owned dams in several western states.
WAPA's expenditures are funded by annual appropriations and are
offset over time by income from the sale of electricity.
Based on information from WAPA, CBO estimates that
implementing H.R. 2371 would cost less than $500,000 over the
2018-2022 period; such spending would be subject to the
availability of appropriated finds. Implementing this bill
would primarily involve making existing data accessible in new
formats. According to WAPA, much of that work is being done
under current law. Enacting H.R. 2371 would not affect direct
spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do
not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2371 would not increase
net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 2371 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Kathleen Gramp.
The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to require the Administrator of the
Western Area Power Administration to establish a pilot project
to provide increased transparency for customers.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any
directed rule makings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing
law.
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