Western Area Power Administration Transparency Act

Summary: .  Western Area Power Administration Transparency Act (Sec.2)This bill directs the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)to establish a pilot project to provide increased transparency for its customers. WAPA must publicly display on its website specific information dating back to FY2008, including rates charged by power systems to customers for power and transmission services, the amount of capacity or energy sold by power systems, and a detailed accounting at the functional and budget activity level of all its expenditures and capital costs by region and for the headquarters office. Additionally, WAPA must annually update the information it provides on the website, including the changes it publishes, the reasons for the changes, and the amount of the unobligated balances it retains at the end of the prior fiscal year within each marketing area and at headquarters. The pilot project shall terminate in seven years.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Western Area Power Administration 
Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION PILOT PROJECT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Western Area Power 
Administration (referred to in this section as the ``Administrator'') 
shall establish a pilot project, as part of the continuous process 
improvement program and to provide increased transparency for 
customers, to publish on a publicly available website of the Western 
Area Power Administration, a database of the following information, 
beginning with fiscal year 2008, relating to the Western Area Power 
Administration:
            (1) By power system and in a consistent format, rates 
        charged to customers for power and transmission service.
            (2) By power system, the amount of capacity or energy sold.
            (3) By region, a detailed accounting, at the functional 
        level and the budget activity level, of all expenditures, 
        capital costs, and staffing costs, including--
                    (A) indirect costs, including overhead costs;
                    (B) direct charges and direct allocations;
                    (C) the number of contract staff;
                    (D) costs related to independent consultants;
                    (E) the number of full-time equivalents; and
                    (F) charges to the region from the headquarters 
                office of the Western Area Power Administration for all 
                annual and capital costs.
            (4) For the headquarters office of the Western Area Power 
        Administration, a detailed accounting at the functional level 
        and the budget activity level, of all expenditures and capital 
        costs, including--
                    (A) indirect costs, including overhead costs;
                    (B) direct charges and direct allocations;
                    (C) the number of contract staff;
                    (D) costs related to independent consultants;
                    (E) the number of full-time equivalents;
                    (F) a summary of any expenditures described in this 
                paragraph, with the total amount paid by each region 
                and power system; and
                    (G) expenses incurred on behalf of other Federal 
                agencies or programs or third parties for the 
                administration of programs not related to the 
                marketing, transmission, or wheeling of Federal 
                hydropower resources, including--
                            (i) indirect costs, including overhead 
                        costs;
                            (ii) direct charges and allocations;
                            (iii) the number of contract staff; and
                            (iv) the number of full-time equivalents.
            (5) Capital expenditures, including--
                    (A) capital investments delineated by the year in 
                which each investment is placed into service; and
                    (B) the sources of capital for each investment.
    (b) Annual Summary.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the end of 
        each fiscal year in which the pilot project is being carried 
        out under this section, the Administrator shall make available 
        on a publicly available website--
                    (A) updates to documents made available on the date 
                of the initial publication of the information on the 
                website under subsection (a);
                    (B) an identification of the magnitude of annual 
                changes in the information published on the website 
                under subsection (a);
                    (C) a description of the reasons for the changes 
                identified under subparagraph (B);
                    (D) subject to paragraph (2), the total amount of 
                the unobligated balances retained by the Western Area 
                Power Administration at the end of the prior fiscal 
                year within each marketing area and headquarters by--
                            (i) purpose or function;
                            (ii) source of funding;
                            (iii) anticipated program allotment; and
                            (iv) underlying authority for each source 
                        of funding; and
                    (E) the anticipated level of unobligated balances 
                that the Western Area Power Administration expects to 
                retain at the end of the fiscal year in which the 
                annual summary is published, as delineated by each of 
                the categories described in clauses (i) through (iv) of 
                subparagraph (D).
            (2) Limitation.--Amounts in the Upper Colorado River Basin 
        Fund established by section 5(a) of the Act of April 11, 1956 
        (commonly known as the ``Colorado River Storage Project Act'') 
        (43 U.S.C. 620d(a)), shall not considered to be an unobligated 
        balance retained by the Western Area Power Administration for 
        purposes of paragraph (1)(D).
    (c) Termination.--The pilot project under this section shall 
terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of enactment of 
this Act.

            Passed the House of Representatives February 7, 2018.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.