The Bonneville Power Administration on Feb. 18 kicked off the last public contract development workshop series under its “Provider of Choice” initiative, allowing stakeholders to provide input on the agency’s long-term power contracts that it will issue later in 2025. 

BPA will hold three workshops this week, with the last one scheduled for Feb. 20. The final workshops indicate BPA is wrapping up development of the draft long-term contract that will go into effect in 2028 and set the conditions under which the agency sells federal power to customers. Following a public comment period, the goal is to have final templates ready by June 18 and signed contracts by December 2025, according to BPA presentation material. 

Michelle Lichtenfels, program manager of the Provider of Choice initiative, noted that BPA has hosted dozens of workshops on the issue, saying “this feels like a big week.” 

Lichtenfels thanked the participants, adding, “This is really a momentous time for being our last contract workshop series, but also the last chance we get to engage before we get into that public comment period.” 

The Feb. 18 meeting focused on ironing out details on several topics related to the contracts, including day-ahead markets, planning reserve margins and charges related to the Western Resource Adequacy Program, among other issues. 

Bonneville delivers power to regional public power customers under contracts executed in 2008. The agreements provided approximately 76% of BPA’s power services’ revenue requirement in 2022, according to a Provider of Choice concept paper. 

The long-term contracts by statute cannot exceed a 20-year term, and BPA launched the provider of choice initiative to begin contract discussions with stakeholders before the current agreements expire in 2028, according to the paper.