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L INTRODUCTION 



On behalf of Portland General Electric (PGE) and over 600,000 customers, I want to thank 

 Congressman DeFazio and the Natural Resources Committee for convening this hearing of 

 the BPA Task Force. 



PGE is one of BPA's largest customers purchasing real energy, energy capacity and 

 transmission services in the magnitude of 50 to 60 million dollars a year. We have borne the 

 third largest share of the recent rate increase. In feet, it can be said that the largest Oregon 

 impact from BPA's rate hike is on PGE customers, an increase of about $30 million. 



BPA and PGE share a common interest in the timely and cost effective decommissioning of 

 the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, as well as in the operation of the Pacific Northwest Intertie. 



While PGE does a lot of business with BPA, we are also competitors - not so much for 

 customers, but for energy. Since the region exhausted it's energy surplus, PGE, and 

 virtually every other utility in this region, now compete with BPA to purchase power in the 

 secondary markets. 



For all practical purposes, BPA is so large that at many times during the year they establish 

 the benchmark price for secondary power. 



It is important to understand that BPA is the hub of a competitive market in which their role 

 is to be a cost effective transmitter and integrator of new and old power supplies. And BPA 

 presently has monopoly power that can be used to inhibit, or tax, the new competitive power 

 markets. 



Finally, economic access to the Federal Hydroelectric System for our customers, and those 

 of other lOUs, is through the residential exchange. As you know, this is a critically 

 important piogiam that impacts the majority of Oregon's electric customers, customers that 



