Selling the Northwest's Federal Power
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About half the power BPA sells goes to Northwest public utility districts, city light departments
and rural electric cooperatives. Public agencies get preference to power from BPA. About 15 percent
of BPA's annual sales are to investor-owned utilities such as PacifiCorp. Sales to Northwest
aluminum companies and a few other large industries account for about one-fourth of BPA's annual revenues.
After Northwest customers are served, BPA sells any surplus power to utilities outside the region. 
As the power industry deregulates, new kinds of power deals are reducing bulk power prices through open market competition. BPA is at the forefront of this change because it sells at wholesale, and deregulation is happening first on the wholesale level.
BPA is adapting its power marketing techniques to serve the Northwest in the new free-market environment. It now sells surplus electricity to new players in the market, including power brokers and third-party marketers. | |
| NEXT: Transmission Grid Connects The Dots | ||
