263 



Unfortunately, Bonneville seems to have adopted the position that 

 it is under an obligation to continue the status quo, to continue 

 selling large quantities of firm power to the DSIs, as if they 

 were preference customers. 



We would like to call your attention to correspondence between 

 the Canby Utility Board and Bonneville regarding this issue. 

 Attachment B contains the letters in question. In particular, we 

 ask that you and your staff review Bonneville's assertion that 

 Section 12 of the existing contracts obligates Bonneville to 

 offer new firm power contracts to the DSIs. 



3. THE NEED FOR A GAO AUDIT TO REVIEW THE 

 BONNEVILLE-DSI RELATIONSHIP 



The Bonneville-DSI relationship has not been subjected to an 

 independent audit /evaluation since the passage of the Northwest 

 Power Act in 1980. 



We believe it is time to conduct an independent evaluation of 

 this relationship and to help answer a number of pressing 

 questions about how the Act is being implemented with respect to 

 the DSIs. 



We suggest that the General Accounting Office has the 

 qualifications and experience to thoroughly evaluate these and 

 other related questions: 



1. Did Congress intend that Bonneville offer long-term, 

 firm power contracts to the DSIs indefinitely, no 

 matter what load-resource balemce Bonneville faces? If 

 the answer is no, what alternative relationships did 

 Congress contemplate when it enacted the Northwest 

 Power Act? 



