Sales of electric power repay all costs associated with power generation. Western must establish power rates sufficient to recover operating, maintenance and purchase power expenses and repay the Federal government's investment in building these generation and transmission facilities within 50 years. Western conducts annual power repayment studies to ensure power rates for each project are adequate. Data in the study include historic expenses and investments already repaid from power revenues as well as projections for future years. Also listed are estimated annual repayment of generation and transmission investment costs throughout the project's repayment period.
Historical data is gathered primarily from accounting records through the last fiscal year.
In addition to Western's marketing and billing records, generation, hydrology and project data, historical and projected figures are provided by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers and the International Boundary and Water Commission. The Bureau and Corps also contribute hydrological forecasting data used to project resource sales and any required purchases.