Court order prompts addition of spillage fee
Customers of the Okanogan County Electric Co-operative (OCEC) will pay more for power starting Oct. 1 because of a surcharge implemented by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).
The surcharge is the result of a federal court order requiring that additional water be spilled at federal hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River. Spilled water will go over the dams instead of through turbines, reducing the amount of hydropower produced.
The additional charge to OCEC’s customers will be $0.0023 per kilowatt hour (kWh) and will apply to all rate classes, an approximately 3% increase for OCEC ratepayers, General Manager Greg Mendonca said. It won’t affect the base rate. The surcharge will be listed separately on bills starting in November.
OCEC gets about 80% of its power from BPA, and the surcharge applies just to that portion. The other 20% is from a mix of sources, Mendonca said.
With less water available to generate electricity, BPA needs revenue from the surcharge to recover its costs, according to OCEC. BPA will collect approximately $125 million annually from all its public-power customers, and OCEC’s share is expected to be approximately $165,000 per year. There is no expiration date for the surcharge.
The Okanogan County Public Utility District (PUD) is aware of the court order requiring the BPA to increase spill. “We are awaiting additional information from the BPA to better understand how this may affect our utility and what, if any, impact it could have on our ratepayers,” PUD Public Information Officer Jessica McCarthy said.
BPA may try to recover the costs in its next contract with OCEC, which will take effect in October 2028, meaning that the surcharge would simply be rolled into the basic power rate, Mendonca said.
Lawsuit
The surcharge is connected with a lawsuit over the impacts of hydropower dams on salmon that goes back almost three decades. The plaintiffs contend that the federal agencies that operate the dams have not adequately protected salmon.
The decision to spill more water stems from a Feb. 25 court order in the long-running case. The order requires BPA to spill large amounts of water over the dams to protect migrating salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers.
The Public Power Council was the lead defendant, representing public utilities in the northwest that buy power from BPA, including OCEC. Plaintiffs include the states of Washington and Oregon, tribes and environmental groups. The Public Power Council has appealed the judge’s decision.
Another rate hike expected next year
OCEC is also evaluating another rate increase, probably between 4% and 6%, to recover rising costs. All of OCEC’s expenses — for equipment, tools, labor, benefits, fuel and transportation — have increased, Mendonca said.
OCEC has three mechanisms for recovering costs — the base rate, the kWh charge, and the demand charge — and the board will evaluate the amount of any increase and where it would apply when it begins its budgeting process for 2027 in September, Mendonca said. If approved, the increase is expected to take effect Jan. 1.
OCEC’s last increase of 5% applied to kWh only and took effect in Oct. 2025.
