PART 300—CONFIRMATION AND APPROVAL OF THE RATES OF FEDERAL POWER MARKETING ADMINISTRATIONS Authority: 16 U.S.C. 825s, 832-8321, 838-838k, 839-839h; 42 U.S.C. 7101-7352; 43 U.S.C. 485-485k. Source: Order 382, 49 FR 25235, June 20, 1984, unless otherwise noted. Subpart A—General Provisions § 300.1 Applicability and definitions. (a) Applicability. (b) Definitions. (1) Administrator (2) Electric service (3) Historic period (4) Initial capital investment (5) Power repayment study or PRS (6) Proposed rate approval period (7) Rate schedule (i) Type of service to which the rate is to be applied; (ii) Rates and charges for, or in connection with, electric service; and (iii) Classifications and other provisions which directly affect such rates and charges. (8) Rate test or cost evaluation period (9) Replacement [Order 382, 49 FR 25235, June 20, 1984, as amended by Order 323-B, 52 FR 20709, June 3, 1987] § 300.2 Informal conference. The Administrator or a designee may confer with Commission staff prior to submitting an application under subpart B, with respect to the appropriate form and content of such application. Subpart B—Filing Requirements § 300.10 Application for confirmation and approval. (a) General provisions Contents of filing. (i)(A) A letter of request for rate approval; (B) A form of notice suitable for publication in the Federal Register (C) The rate schedule; (D) A statement of revenue and related costs; (E) The order, if any, placing the rates into effect on an interim basis; (F) The Administrator's Record of Decision or explanation of the rate development process; (G) Supporting documents; (H) A certification; and (I) Technical supporting information and analysis. (ii) The form of notice shall be on electronic media as specified by the Secretary. (iii) Paragraphs (a)(1)(i)(B) and (a)(1)(ii) of this section shall cease to have effect on December 5, 2026, unless the Commission determines that the cessation deadline should be extended to a date not more than 5 years in the future after offering the public an opportunity to provide input on the costs and benefits of paragraphs (a)(1)(i)(B) and (a)(1)(ii) and considering that input. The Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register (2) Incorporation of information by reference. (3) Time of filing. (ii) Rate schedules of the Bonneville Power Administration for which interim approval by the Commission is requested must be filed not later than 60 days in advance of the proposed effective date. (iii) Rate schedules for which interim approval is not requested must be filed not later than 180 days in advance of the proposed effective date. (4) Electronic filing. (b) Letter of request for rate approval. (1) A description of the period for which Commission approval is requested, delineated by an effective date and an expiration date, and, for the Bonneville Power Administration, a request, if any, for interim approval of the rates; (2) A brief description of the proposed rates and charges under existing and proposed rate schedules and the expected changes, if any, in annual revenues; and (3) A description of how the filed rate differs in rate level or rate structure from the rate schedule currently effective. (c) Notice of filing. Federal Register, (1) The identification number or description of the rate schedule or contract; (2) If the rate schedule includes changes in rates, the dollar amount and percent increase or decrease in rates; (3) If the rate schedule includes changes other than rates, a brief description of the changes; (4) A brief explanation of the reasons for any proposed change in the rate schedule; (5) A statement whether interim approval of Bonneville Power Administration rates is requested; (6) The proposed effective date of the rate schedule; and (7) The proposed rate approval period. (d) Rate schedules. (1) The class of service to which each rate schedule will apply and service areas or zones which will be affected by the filed rate; (2) The rate to be applied to capacity and energy services or other services; (3) Special provisions, such as discounts, penalties, power factor adjustments, service interruptions, unauthorized overruns and other similar provisions which may affect the rate and charges; and (4) The period during which the rates will be effective. (e) Statement of revenue and related costs. (f) Explanation of rate development process and supporting documents. (2) The Administrator must file a Record of Decision, if one is made, or an explanation of the rate development process, if a Record of Decision is not made. The Record of Decision or the explanation of the rate development process must include: (i) A discussion of issues raised by customers or the public and how such issues were resolved; (ii) A discussion of all statutory, regulatory, or other requirements which governed the Administrator's decision; (iii) A description of any methodology used for determining revenue requirements and for developing appropriate rate structures; (iv) A list identifying all documents submitted for Commission consideration; and (g) Certification. (h) Additional filing requirements. (2) The Administrator must file any other information requested by the Office of Energy Market Regulation as needed for Commission analysis of the rate filing. [Order 382, 49 FR 25235, June 20, 1984, as amended by Order 541, 57 FR 21734, May 22, 1992; Order 593, 62 FR 1284, Jan. 9, 1997; Order 647, 69 FR 32439, June 10, 2004; Order 699, 72 FR 45325, Aug. 14, 2007; Order 701, 72 FR 61054, Oct. 29, 2007; Order 714, 73 FR 57536, Oct. 3, 2008; Order 914, 90 FR 48404, Oct. 21, 2025] § 300.11 Technical support for the rate schedule. (a) Filing requirement. (b) Data Statement A—Sales and Revenues. (i) Sales and revenues for each rate schedule for the last five years of the historic period, as defined in section 300.1(b)(3); (ii) For the rate test period, the estimated annual sales and revenues for the existing and each proposed rate schedule, including a separate aggregation of any revenues from sources not covered by the rate schedule according to general classifications of such revenues; and (iii) Brief explanations of how sales and revenue estimates are prepared and explanations of any changes in sales or revenues during the last five years of the historic period. (2) Statement B—Power Resources. (3) Statement C—Capitalized investments or costs. (ii) The statement shall include a listing, by year, of the following: (A) All initial investments and additions to plant, including interest during construction, that produced revenue during the historic period or are expected to produce revenue during the rate test period; (B) Capitalized deferred expenses; and (C) Replacements made during the historic period and replacements projected to be made during the balance of the repayment period. (iii) For each such investment, the statement shall specify: (A) Whether the investment is an initial investment, an addition, a replacement, or a capitalized deferred annual expense; (B) The date the investment was made; (C) The year in which repayment is due to be completed; (D) Whether the investment was financed through the issuance of revenue bonds, the appropriate interest rate, and the terms and conditions for such bonds; and (E) The authority or administrative procedure used for the adoption of such interest rate. (iv) If available, the amount repaid on each investment to date must be stated, except that if repayment on individual investments is not recorded, the amount repaid to date on each group of investments having common interest rates should be stated. (v) For each year, the sum of unpaid individual investments or the unpaid portion of interest groups shown above must equal the unamortized investment shown in the power repayment study for that year. (vi) The statement must describe the methods used to forecast replacements and the price level used to estimate replacement costs. (4) Statement D—Interest Expenses; Repayment of Investments and Debt Capital. (A) The total unpaid balance outstanding at the end of the historic period; (B) Payments made on principal and interest during each of the last five years of the historic period; and (C) Annual payments expected to be made through the cost evaluation period. (ii) The statement must describe how the interest expense was determined for each type of investment and include examples of such computations. (5) Statement E—Operation, Maintenance and Other Annual Expenses. (i) List expenses for each individual source, if purchased power and other similar expenses are derived from more than one source; (ii) Explain any significant deviations from trends in expenses or any extraordinary expenses; and (iii) Explain the price level used for estimating expenses. (6) Statement F—Cost Allocations. (ii) The statement must show the amount of power costs suballocated to irrigation functions, any changes from previous allocations, and the procedure used in allocating such costs. Currently valid allocations previously submitted to the Commission need not be furnished, if referenced. § 300.12 Analysis of supporting data. (a) An analysis of the data provided under § 300.11 must be supported by an appropriate methodology developed by the Administrator. (b) Revenue recovery study. (2) Any Power Repayment Study (3) A PRS must include, but need not be limited to, those items listed below: (i) Operating revenues; (ii) Operating expenses; (iii) Interest expense; (iv) Investment placed in service (using totals if the supporting statement annually shows a breakdown into the appropriate subcategories under each major heading), including the initial project, additions, replacements, and the total investment; (v) Investment amortized; (vi) Remaining unamortized investment; (vii) Allowable unamortized investment (using totals if the supporting statement annually shows a breakdown into the appropriate subcategories under each major heading), including initial project, additions, replacements, and total investment; (viii) Irrigation investment assigned to be repaid from power revenues (using totals if the supporting statement annually shows a breakdown into the appropriate subcategories under each major heading), including irrigation investment assigned to power, investment repaid, remaining unpaid investment, and allowable unpaid investment; and (ix) Cumulative status of repayment. (c) Cost of service study. § 300.13 Waiver of filing requirements. The Administrator must request waiver of any requirement of this subpart if an application that does not fully comply with that requirement is not to be considered deficient. The request must state the Administrator's reasons for such noncompliance and show good cause for any waiver. § 300.14 Filings under section 7(k). Any application for Commission review and approval of a rate or rate schedules established by the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration pursuant to section 7(k) of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act must be filed in compliance with the provisions of § 35.13(a)(2) of part 35 of this chapter and with the provisions of this part, and must include the classifications, practices, rules and regulations affecting the rate and charges and all contracts which in any manner affect or relate to such rate, charges, classifications, services, rules, regulations, or practices. However, such classifications, practices, rules, regulations or contracts which may affect or relate to rates will not be subject to Commission approval unless they are determined to be rates or rate schedules. [Order 323-B, 52 FR 20709, June 3, 1987] Subpart C—Commission Rate Review and Approval § 300.20 Interim acceptance and review of Bonneville Power Administration rates. (a) Opportunity to comment. Federal Register (b) Action on request for interim rate acceptance Deficient applications. (i) Accept the application and order the rate schedule into effect on an interim basis, effective on the date requested by the Administrator or at such time as the Commission may otherwise order, on the condition that any deficiencies in the filing are corrected by the Administrator to the satisfaction of and within such time specified by the Director of the Office of Energy Market Regulation; or (ii) Deny the Administrator's interim rate request and reject the application, if the Commission determines that the Administrator's application: (A) Is patently deficient with respect to the filing requirements of this part; or (B) Fails to comply with the applicable provisions of the Northwest Power Act or such other Acts as may be applicable. (2) Applications that are in compliance. (i) Order the rate schedule into effect on an interim basis, effective on the date requested by the Administrator or at such time as the Commission may otherwise order; or (ii) Deny the Administrator's interim rate request and review the application for final confirmation and approval of the rate schedule pursuant to the provisions of this part. (c) Condition of acceptance. (d) Notice of action on interim approval. Federal Register [Order 382, 49 FR 25235, June 20, 1984, as amended by Order 699, 72 FR 45326, Aug. 14, 2007; Order 701, 72 FR 61054, Oct. 29, 2007] § 300.21 Final confirmation and approval. (a) Opportunity to comment and intervene. Federal Register (i) To submit initial and reply comments on any filing made under subpart B; and (ii) To intervene in any proceeding held on such filing. (2) With respect to the Bonneville Power Administration: (i) Such notice will also give interested persons an opportunity to comment on whether it is necessary to hold a hearing on non-regional rates under section 7(k) of the Northwest Power Act and the issues to be resolved at such hearing. (ii) This notice may be part of any Commission order granting interim approval under § 300.20 of this part. (b) Proceedings under section 7(k). (c) Standards of review for the Bonneville Power Administration Rates under section 7(a). (i) The rates must be sufficient to ensure repayment of the Federal investment in the Federal Columbia River Power System over a reasonable number of years after first meeting the Administrator's other costs. (ii) The rates must be based upon the Administrator's total system costs. (iii) With respect to transmission rates, the rates must equitably allocate the costs of the Federal transmission system between Federal and non-federal power utilizing such system. (2) Rates under section 7(k). (d) Standards of review for other power marketing administrations. (e) Action on request for final confirmation and approval of rates. (1) Confirm and approve the rate schedules for the period beginning with the date such rates where placed in effect on an interim basis or the effective date requested in the application to the expiration date requested in the application but not to exceed a five-year period, or for such lesser period, as the Commission deems appropriate; (2) Remand the filing for further development of the record to support the filed rate schedules; (3) Order an evidentiary hearing if there are questions of fact which can not be resolved from the record or through staff evaluation; (4) Disapprove the filed rates; or (5) Take such other action that the Commission considers appropriate. (f) Procedures upon disapproval. (g) Refund and interest Refund. (2) Interest. (i) With respect to the rates of the Bonneville Power Administration, the rate of interest or a weighted average of all rates of interest charged to the Bonneville Power Administration by the U.S. Treasury during the period for which the computation is made; (ii) With respect to the rates of other Power Marketing Administrations, the rates of interest computed in accordance with the formula contained in DOE Order No. RA 6120.2, available from the Department of Energy (Office of Power Marketing Coordination) and the Power Marketing Administrations. (h) Notice of action on final approval. Federal Register [Order 382, 49 FR 25235, June 20, 1984, as amended by Order 323-B, 52 FR 20709, June 3, 1987]