PPL’s energy marketing president said Thursday (10/11) that PPL has submitted a number of bids in response to an electricity supply request from The Montana Power Company.
“We are very pleased to participate in this process and we have made very competitive bids, offers that are comparable to sales that we are making to wholesale and retail buyers in the Northwest,” said Paul Champagne, president, PPL EnergyPlus. “We encourage MPC to release the results of this bidding process and the contracts they have already executed, so that Montana consumers and public officials will be in a position to make informed decisions about their electricity supplies over the next several years.”
In addition to making offers in the bid categories defined by MPC, Champagne said PPL had made four additional offers that have terms of five years:
• A proposal to provide 50, 60 or 70 percent of MPC’s default supply load on an hourly basis. Under this proposal, MPC would be free to purchase the remainder of its requirements from any source, including new power plants in Montana.
• A proposal to provide an additional 150 megawatts of “base load” generation above the 150 megawatts requested by MPC.
• A proposal to supply all of MPC’s default supply needs up to its historic peak of 1,050 megawatts with special provisions that allow for purchases from new Montana power plants if such purchases would lower customer prices. This is similar to the proposal that PPL made to MPC two weeks ago.
• A proposal to provide up to 300 megawatts of off-peak power at very competitive prices.
“These new offers are additional examples of PPL’s exhaustive efforts to provide electricity supply solutions for Montana’s electricity users,” said Champagne. “In addition to responding to the specific request for proposal, we have offered four innovative proposals that further expand Montana Power’s options for obtaining the lowest prices possible for customers.
“Over the past seven months, we have responded to requests for bids, we have negotiated at length with MPC, we even have offered to provide all the electricity that MPC needs to serve its customers for five more years,” said Champagne.
He also pointed out that PPL continues to sell MPC electricity that is significantly below market prices in the Northwest – and will do so through June 30, 2002. “While there has been a great deal of discussion about rising electricity prices in this region, it should be noted that MPC customers have been shielded from any electricity price increases over the past two years. In that time, PPL has borne the risks associated with the widely fluctuating market prices in this region,” said Champagne.