Depending on what that spot price is some operations might not purchase the remaining power that they need and run in a cut back mode. If the market rate for power should fall then they would purchase the remaining power needed and also try and lock it up for an extended period of time. This rate proposal does nothing to encourage conservation by the end users of the power. If a rate payer under this proposal experiences no increase in their power rates there is no incentive to conserve on their power usage. During times of short supply and high demand, conservation is the word of the day and if some people aren't getting the word the problem is never going to go away.
Conservation is a two pronged attack in that power usage is down along with the total power bill.
The PUD's have made a demand whereby they want all the cheap power and the DSI's Direct Service Industries and IOU's Investors Owner Utilities will have to take what is left over. The IOU's in this diagram are included in the middle ring and it is only projected that their power might be cheaper than the DSI's. In either case, the cost of power will be going up. The people in rural areas are going to be most affected by all of this because the aluminum companies are mostly located in these areas so their closing will have the greatest effect since their economies will be shattered. The cost of power, regardless of price will be difficult to pay for because if a person lacks employment, they will also lack the ability to pay for their bills.