62 



depending upon what the magnitude of those were, could very well 

 put the Treasury payment in jeopardy. 



Mr. DeFazio. But you are at this moment committed to making 

 the flows — to meeting the Council's program? 



Mr. Hardy. That is right. We are meeting the Council's plan 

 with some added flows that we committed to as a result of our 

 1992 consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service. We 

 are currently in consultations with NMFS this year, and I think it 

 is safe to say that we will probably end up providing even more 

 flows in 1993, although we haven't finally resolved those issues. 



What Judge Marsh may do, however, is a total unknown and 

 could be well beyond an5^hing that we have contemplated so far. 

 If it is, it could have significant revenue implications, and I would 

 be hesitant to speculate on what those could be because I just don't 

 know. 



Mr. DeFazio. But you have at this point no intention of not 

 meeting the goals that were set in cooperation and coordination 

 with the Council and consultation with NMFS. 



Mr. Hardy. That is absolutely correct. We have met the Power 

 Council's goals and our 1992 operational commitments to NMFS to 

 the letter, and we intend to do that in 1993, whatever the result 

 of those consultations ends up being. 



Mr. DeFazio. Okay. 



Just two things to put this all in perspective. This was touched 

 on before, and I realize that I may have to ask this in a different 

 manner, which has to do with your operating reserves. Having 

 come fi-om county government, I am familiar with the concept of 

 revenue anticipation notes, tax anticipation notes, commonly used, 

 and obviously in the case of BPA we have a stable and predictable 

 customer base and can predict with some accuracy, absent generat- 

 ing problems, but at least on the consumption side, what our reve- 

 nues will be given a rate. 



When BPA bills a utility, how often do you bill your customer 

 utilities? 



Mr. Hardy. Monthly. 



Mr. DeFazio. Monthly. And then how long do they have to pay 

 that bill? 



Mr. Hardy. We require payment 20 days. 



Mr. DeFazio. And are they all billed on the same date, or are 

 they billed on different dates? 



Mr. Hardy. The large customers are billed at the beginning of 

 the month and the smaller ones are billed throughout the month. 



Mr. DeFazio. At the beginning of the month. So if there were to 

 be a critical cash flow problem next fall after you make your Treas- 

 ury pajmient, that would occur in the initial weeks of the month 

 of October. 



Mr. Hardy. It is a little more complicated than that. Let me just 

 talk about the problem generally without reference to the specific 

 proposal that the customers have made in the rate case. 



Mr. DeFazio. I am certainly not raising a specific proposal, I am 

 investigating your billing practices, because my utility doesn't give 

 me three weeks to pay the bill, do you. Bill? 



Mr. KiTTREDGE. No. 



