Mission Valley Power Project, Montana-Power Rate Adjustment

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <SUBAGY>Bureau of Indian Affairs</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[245A2100DD/AAKC001030/A0A501010.999900]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Mission Valley Power Project, Montana—Power Rate Adjustment</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rate adjustment. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) proposes to adjust electric power rates for the Mission Valley Power Project (MVP). We are required to establish rates to recover the costs to administer, operate, maintain, and rehabilitate the MVP. We request your comments on the proposed rate adjustments. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Interested parties may submit comments on the proposed rate adjustments on or before December 16, 2024. </DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> All comments on the proposed rate adjustments must be in writing. You may send comments via email to <E T="03">comments@bia.gov.</E> Please reference “Rate Adjustment for MVP Project” in the subject line. Or you may submit comments to: Program Specialist, Division of Water and Power, Office of Trust Services, 2021 4th Avenue North, Billings, MT 59101. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Mr. Shane Hendrickson, Flathead Agency Superintendent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, P.O. Box 40, Pablo, Montana 59855, (406) 675-2700, Ext. 1301. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> The table in this notice provides current and proposed electric power rates for 2024, 2025, and 2026. <HD SOURCE="HD1">What is the meaning of key terms used in this notice?</HD> <E T="03">BIA</E> means the Bureau of Indian Affairs within the United States Department of the Interior or the BIA's authorized representative. <E T="03">Bill</E> means our written statement notifying you of the charges and/or fees you owe the United States for the administration, operation, maintenance, rehabilitation, and/or construction of the electric power utility servicing you. <E T="03">CFR</E> means Code of Federal Regulations. <E T="03">Customer</E> means any person or entity to whom we provide service. <E T="03">Customer service</E> is the assistance or service provided to customers, except for the actual delivery of electric power or energy. Customer service may include line extension, system upgrade, meter testing, connections or disconnection, special meter reading, or other assistance or service as provided in the utility's Operations Manual. <E T="03">Day(s)</E> means calendar day(s). <E T="03">Demand</E> is measured in kilowatts by the utility's meter and represents the rate at which electricity is consumed in a fifteen-minute period of maximum use. <E T="03">Electric power</E> means the energy we deliver to meet customers' electrical needs. <E T="03">Electric power rate</E> means the charges we establish for delivery of energy to our customers, which includes administration costs and operation and maintenance costs in addition to the cost of purchased power. <E T="03">Electric power utility</E> means all structures, equipment, components, and human resources necessary for the delivery of electric service. <E T="03">Electric service</E> means the delivery of electric power by our utility to our customers. <E T="03">Energy</E> means electric power. <E T="03">Fee</E> (see Service fee). <E T="03">I, me, my, you,</E> and <E T="03">your</E> means all interested parties, especially persons or entities to which we provide service and receive use of our electric power service. <E T="03">Must</E> means an imperative or mandatory act or requirement. <E T="03">Purchased power</E> means the power we must purchase from power marketing providers for resale to our customers to meet changing power demands. Each of our utilities establishes its own power purchasing agreements based on its power demands and firm power availability. <E T="03">Rate</E> (see Electric power rate). <E T="03">Reserve Funds</E> means funds held in reserve for maintenance, repairs, or unexpected expenses. <E T="03">Revenue</E> means the monies we collect from our customers through service fees and electric power rates. <E T="03">Service</E> (see Electric service). <E T="03">Service fee</E> means our charge for providing or performing a specific administrative or customer service. <E T="03">Utility(ies)</E> see (Electric power utility). <E T="03">We, us,</E> and <E T="03">our</E> means the United States Government, the Secretary of the Interior, the BIA, and all who are authorized to represent us in matters covered under this notice. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Does this notice affect me?</HD> This notice affects you if we provide you electric service. MVP is a federally-owned power utility, operated and maintained by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes through a contract pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, Public Law 93-638, 25 U.S.C. 5301 <E T="03">et seq.</E> (formerly codified at 25 U.S.C. 450 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ). MVP provides service to customers located within the Flathead Indian Reservation and to areas in Flathead, Lake, Missoula, and Sanders counties in Montana. MVP provides power for residential, governmental, irrigation, commercial, and industrial uses. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Where can I get information on the regulatory and legal citations in this notice?</HD> You can contact us using the addresses provided at the beginning of this notice, or you can use the internet site for the Government Printing Office at <E T="03">http://www.gpo.gov.</E> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Why are you publishing this notice?</HD> We are publishing this notice to inform you that we propose to adjust our electric power rates. This notice is published in accordance with BIA's regulations governing its operation and maintenance of power projects, found at 25 CFR part 175. This regulation provides for the establishment and publication of rates for electric power assessments as well as related information about our power projects. <HD SOURCE="HD1">What authorizes you to issue this notice?</HD> Our authority to issue this notice is vested in the Secretary of the Interior by 5 U.S.C. 301; 25 U.S.C. 13; 25 U.S.C. 385c; Act of March 7, 1928 (45 Stat. 212-213), <E T="03">as amended;</E> Act of May 25, 1948, Public Law 554 (62 Stat. 269-273), <E T="03">as amended;</E> Act of August 31, 1951 (65 Stat. 248); Act of December 23, 1981, section 112 (95 Stat. 1404). The Secretary has in turn delegated this authority to the Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs under part 209, chapter 8.1A, of the Department of the Interior's Departmental Manual. <HD SOURCE="HD1">How do you calculate electric power rates?</HD> We calculate electric power rates by estimating the costs of energy delivery to our customers, which includes administration costs and operation and maintenance costs in addition to the cost of purchased power. Operation and maintenance costs include maintenance of a reserve fund to make repairs and replacements to the utility, defray emergency expenses, ensure the continuous operation of the power system, and pay other allowable expenses and obligations to the extent required or permitted by law. The result of this calculation is stated in the rate table in this notice. <HD SOURCE="HD1">How do we know how much rate increase is needed?</HD> We completed a review of MVP's rates in accordance with 25 CFR 175.205 to: (a) determine if our financial requirements are being met to ensure the reliable operation of the utility; and (b) determine if revenues are sufficient to meet our statutory requirements. We have determined a rate increase is needed to ensure MVP can pay its expenses and ensure continuous operation of the power system. <HD SOURCE="HD1">When will you put the rate adjustments into effect?</HD> Interested parties have an opportunity to provide comments, and they will be considered before proposed rate adjustments go into effect. We plan to put the 2024 rate adjustment into effect this fall. The 2025 rate adjustment will be effective March 1, 2025. The 2026 rate adjustment will be effective March 1, 2026. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Will any additional monthly rates apply?</HD> We may add a purchased power cost adjustment to certain categories in the below table. This adjustment is the amount (rounded to the nearest $0.0001) that MVP pays to its power suppliers. When MVP experiences unforeseen increases in the cost of purchased power, we may adjust the existing electric power rate and put it into effect immediately. MVP will publish the purchased power changes in the local newspaper and adjust the purchased power component of your bill accordingly. Such changes are not included in the procedure for adjusting electric power rates because unforeseen increases in the cost of purchased power are: (a) not under our control; (b) determined by current market rates; and (c) subject to market fluctuations that can occur at an undetermined time and frequency. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Are there restrictions on my use of power?</HD> You must use any power that we supply you only on your property. You may not resell any power that we supply to you. <HD SOURCE="HD1">What if I have more than one meter?</HD> If you have more than one meter, we will calculate a separate bill for each meter. <HD SOURCE="HD1">When should I pay my power bill?</HD> We will mail or email your bill notifying you (a) the amount you owe to the United States and (b) when such amount is due. You should pay ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 25k characters. 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