Bipartisan group of senators oppose plan to auction off public utility assets
Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) recently announced that they are opposed to a provision in President Donald Trump’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget that could lead to the privatization of large public utilities through the Department of Energy.
In a letter to Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Cantwell and Murray, along with 21 senators from both sides of the aisle, expressed concern over the provision to auction off transmission assets of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) in Portland, Oregon, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and other Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs)
“There is a long, bipartisan tradition of opposing similar past proposals, including last year’s proposal that recommended selling off federal PMA transmission assets,” the senators wrote. ” Unfortunately, this year’s budget is broader in scope, potentially undermining reliable and affordable electric service in our states.”
The senators expressed concern that selling off these assets to private investors will hurt local residents and businesses.
“Privatizing these assets will likely not result in incentivizing new transmission infrastructure that many of us support. Instead, it will simply shift economic value from families and businesses in our states to investors,” they wrote. “Following the release of the FY 19 Budget, Moody’s Investor’s Service published a report stating the proposal ‘is likely to raise transmission rates for BPA […] customers… because the new private owners would have higher capital costs that would need to be recovered in rates.’”
Utilities have also spoken out against the idea as well.
“The budget proposals regarding BPA would raise rates for Northwest electricity consumers. We appreciate the leadership of our Congressional delegation in putting this ill-advised scheme to bed, so we can focus attention on the serious work needed to maintain BPA as the preferred supplier into the future,” said Scott Corwin, executive director of the Public Power Council, which represents utilities in the Pacific Northwest.
BPA provides power to rural electric cooperatives and public power utilities serving consumers throughout the Pacific Northwest.
