96 



lock in the exchange at present levels. A contract settlement could 

 remove the existing disincentives for utilities and BPA to do what 

 is most efficient; provide BPA greater certainty about future ex- 

 change costs and ensure that the benefits of the federal 

 hydrosystem would be still available to all customers as originally 

 envisioned by Congress. 



Finally in closing, I would like to touch on the concept of BPA 

 as a government corporation. BPA does need to be more stream- 

 lined. They have seen that; others have seen that. The customers 

 do need answers and commitments from BPA in a more timely 

 fashion. And as they look at alternatives for doing that, the govern- 

 ment corporation concept has some appeal. It has some appeal in 

 relieving them from some of the civil service rules and regulations, 

 from some of the complicated government procurement regulations, 

 as well as from the complications of the federal budget process. 

 However, we are concerned about the structure that might be 

 adopted and whether it will provide continued accountability to 

 customers, to Congress and to the Administration. As we say, the 

 devil is in the details, and so while we believe that there are some 

 advantages to that concept, we are concerned about how it would 

 be implemented and have some reservations about ways that that 

 might be done. 



In closing, I appreciate the opportunity to share these thoughts 

 this morning. We continue to believe that one of BPA's chief roles 

 in the region is to market the low-cost power from the federal hy- 

 dropower system and that role must continue. The greater chal- 

 lenge is how to do that more efficiently. 



Thank you for your time. 



Mr. DeFazio. Thank you. 



Mr. Drummond. 



[Prepared statement of Mr. Lorenzini follows:] 



