Federal Electric Power

Controversy Relating to Construction of Transmission Lines Gao ID: RCED-89-43 December 6, 1988

GAO reviewed the Western Area Power Administration's (WAPA) justifications for conducting a joint transmission line construction project with other utility companies, particularly its proposed Craig/Bonanza line project, to determine: (1) the extent of WAPA participation in the project's costs and the resulting line capacity; and (2) whether WAPA construction activities comply with its legislative authority.

GAO found that: (1) WAPA justified its construction projects on the basis of improving the reliability of the federal transmission system; (2) the projects usually increased WAPA transmission capacity; (3) WAPA sold its excess transmission capacity to other utilities in the past and expected to do so in the future to increase its revenue; (4) private utility companies expressed concern over the Craig/Bonanza and Tracy/Livermore transmission line projects because of the potential for WAPA to deliver excess power to their markets through wheeling arrangements with other suppliers, which could result in a loss of their customers; and (5) although WAPA indicated that its participation in the Craig/Bonanza project was based on estimated cost or resulting line capacity, it did not adequately document the extent of or reasons for its participation.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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