Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Tracey Mann (R-KS) recently introduced legislation that would establish a revolving fund for the Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA).
The bill, H.R. 2432, is companion legislation to S. 1034, which was introduced by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) on March 13.
This legislation will help address the current funding process for SWPA, which has increasingly failed to provide the financial certainty necessary to ensure steady power rates to customers during drought and other extreme weather events.
It would move SWPA to a “revolving fund” model where receipts from power sales would be deposited into a permanent mandatory Treasury revolving fund and retained across fiscal years to fund expenses as necessary. Future annual discretionary appropriations would no longer be needed.
This change will provide SWPA and its not-for-profit customers with funding certainty for purchase power and wheeling and other costs.
“The American Public Power Association applauds the introduction of the Southwestern Power Fund Establishment Act,” APPA said in a news release issued by the office of Rep. Graves.
The Southwestern Power Administration Fund Establishment Act is also supported by the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, Missouri Public Utilities Association, Southwestern Power Resources Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
“Since 1943, not-for-profit public power utilities and rural electric cooperatives have successfully partnered with the Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA) to bring reliable hydropower produced at Army Corps dams to millions of customers in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas,” APPA said.
While SWPA customers pay all costs of generating and transmitting the electricity in their power rates, “a complicated funding process has increasingly failed to provide the financial certainty necessary to steady power rates to customers during drought and extreme weather events. The Southwestern Power Fund Establishment Act would streamline this process in a manner that would help avoid rate spikes and economic hardship for communities served by public power utilities and rural electric cooperatives while continuing to ensure that SWPA customers pay all costs associated with generating and transmitting hydropower produced at Corps dams,” APPA said.
“It is a win-win for the federal government and communities served by not-for-profit electric utilities.”
A similar statement of support from APPA was included in a press release from Sen. Moran’s office.
