Cooperative Locks In Power Contracts

Kootenai Electric Cooperative Inc. has locked in power contracts for the next eight years, General Manager Bob Crump said Thursday.

The agreements with Powerex and the Bonneville Power Administration will allow the Hayden-based cooperative to get by on just one minor rate adjustment sometime after the year 2000, he said.

Crump said the cooperative’s board approved the contracts May 18. The Bonneville pact has already been signed, the Powerex agreement is pending.

“We’re pretty happy with our deals,” he said.

Kootenai once bought all of its power from Bonneville, but cut that commitment to 70 percent a few years ago and put the rest of its requirements out for bid.

Bonneville won that competition the first time. Now that 30 percent requirement is filled by Idaho Power Co.

But Crump said the power market has tightened, rates are climbing, and Kootenai officials decided to take advantage of a Bonneville program that allows customers to commit to purchases after 2001 at rates identical to those available today.

“We think that that will enable us to bring a lot of rate stability to our customers,” he said.

Crump said the agreement with Powerex, the marketing agency for B.C. Hydro, will bridge the gap between the expiration of the Idaho Power contract and the post-2001 pact with Bonneville.

Terms are confidential, he said, but comparable to those negotiated with Bonneville.

Inland Power & Light Co., Modern Electric Water Co., the City of Chewelah and Big Bend Electric Cooperative Inc. have also presubscribed to Bonneville power post-2001, as has Avista Energy, a subsidiary of Washington Water Power Co.