Bonneville Power Administration says first-quarter net revenues down due to dry winter
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) – The Bonneville Power Administration on Tuesday released its first official forecast of the expected financial performance for fiscal year 2024. Dry winter conditions in the Pacific Northwest have resulted in agency net revenues of negative $102 million, $197 million below the financial performance target.
Power Services’ net revenue forecast is negative $109 million, which is $209 million below agency targets. This decrease is primarily due to higher power purchase expenses and is slightly offset by increases in operating revenues. Transmission Services’ net revenues are forecast to be $3 million, which is $7 million above agency targets. This is driven largely by lower depreciation expenses and higher interest income.
“These estimates could significantly change by the second quarter, since the forecast does not include the impacts from the January cold snap, which realized significantly higher power purchase expense as a result of record low hydro generation combined with record high power prices,” said Marcus Harris, BPA’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.
“We entered the fiscal year with healthy reserve levels, which have helped us navigate the volatility we saw this January. In this environment of volatile weather and market prices, liquidity is paramount and something we will be focused on maintaining going forward.”
Agency financial reserves for risk are forecast to be $903 million at the end of the fiscal year, a decrease of $385 million from the prior year. BPA forecasts ending the year with 121 days cash on hand, which exceeds BPA’s minimum target of 60 days.
BPA’s first quarter quarterly business review is available at https://www.bpa.gov/about/finance/quarterly-business-review.
About BPA
The Bonneville Power Administration, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is a nonprofit federal power marketer in the U.S. Department of Energy that sells wholesale, carbon-free hydropower from 31 federal dams in the Columbia River Basin. It also markets the output of the region’s only nuclear plant. BPA delivers this power to more than 140 Northwest electric utilities, serving millions of consumers and businesses in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and parts of California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. BPA also owns and operates more than 15,000 circuit miles of high-voltage power lines and 261 substations, and provides transmission service to more than 300 customers. In all, BPA provides nearly a third of the power generated in the Northwest. To mitigate the impacts of the federal dams, BPA implements a fish and wildlife program that includes working with its partners to make the federal dams safer for fish passage. It also pursues cost-effective energy savings and operational solutions that help maintain safe, affordable, reliable electric power for the Northwest. www.bpa.gov.
