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Franklin PUD Challenges BPA Industrial Rates by Associated Press KPAX, August 3, 2009

TRI-CITIES, Wash. - Should the Bonneville Power Administration be able to sell electricity to aluminum smelters and a paper mill at less than the rate it charges public utilities?

The Franklin PUD manager, Ed Brost, says that amounts to utility customers subsidizing a multinational corporation.

The Tri-City Herald reports the PUD is opposing a reduced industrial rate for the Columbia Falls Aluminum smelter in Montana, the Alcoa plant in Ferndale and the Port Townsend Paper Company.

The BPA has been doing business with Alcoa since the 1940s and courts have previously ruled that BPA can sell power to direct service industries at an industrial rate. However, a federal appeals court is considering a case that could affect agreements between BPA, the aluminum smelters and the paper company.

Information from: Tri-City Herald