109 



35 



The Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act of 1974 (Transmission 

 Act) was the initial act authorizing BPA borrowing authority. The Pacific 

 Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980 specifically 

 amends the SEC. 13, subsection (a) of the Transmission Act. The Energy and 

 Water Development Appropriations Act of 1984 also specifically amends the 

 Transmission Aa. 



Enclosure 2 contains copies of the relevant pages fi'om the three legislative aas 

 that govern the amount and intended uses of BPA borrowing authority with 

 the U.S. Department of Treasury. 



How much electric water heating and space heating load does BPA currently 

 serve? How much of this load is in areas currently served by natural gas? 

 What is the relative efficiency of burning natural gas in a turbine to produce 

 electricity which is used for water and space heating vs. burning gas on site for 

 this purpose? 



BPA currently serves about 1,600 aMW of electric space and water heating 

 load. About half of the homes using electric space and water heat are in areas 

 v^ere gas is available. Another 25 percent of these homes could be served 

 with gas if natural gas mains were extended. 



For a large fi^ction of these homes, conversion to natural gas is technically 

 feasible. However, BPA has concerns about whether a fiiel switching program 

 can be designed to be cost effective. We intend to test this question through 

 our fiiel switching pilot program. 



