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Reliability for Ratepayers Act
2/13/2025, 2:12 PM
Summary of Bill HR 447
The BPA is a federal agency responsible for managing the transmission of electricity in the Pacific Northwest. However, in recent years, the agency has faced challenges in retaining and hiring qualified employees due to limitations on its ability to offer competitive compensation packages.
This bill seeks to remedy this issue by allowing the BPA to offer higher salaries and bonuses to its employees in order to attract and retain top talent. By providing the agency with greater flexibility in compensation, supporters of the bill believe that the BPA will be better equipped to address its staffing needs and continue to effectively manage the transmission of electricity in the region. Overall, the Bonneville Power Administration Compensation Flexibility Act is aimed at ensuring that the BPA has the resources necessary to maintain a skilled workforce and fulfill its important role in the Pacific Northwest's energy infrastructure.
Congressional Summary of HR 447
Reliability for Ratepayers Act
This bill modifies provisions concerning the hiring and compensation of employees of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which is a nonprofit federal power marketing administration that sells hydropower in the Northwest.
Specifically, it directs BPA to develop and implement a plan that specifies and fixes the compensation for its employees, including members of the Senior Executive Service. Within a year, BPA must develop an initial compensation plan, which must be approved by the Department of Energy. BPA must implement the plan no later than one year after the plan is developed.
The compensation plan must be based on an annual survey of the prevailing compensation for similar positions in the public sectors of the electric industry, provide compensation that is competitive with similar positions among consumer-owned utilities in the Western Interconnection, be consistent with BPA's approved annual general and administrative budget, and meet other criteria as outlined in the bill.
BPA must (1) annually review the compensation plan and make any updates as appropriate, and (2) publish the plan and any updates made to the plan.
The bill exempts BPA from certain civil service laws when it is carrying out its hiring authority.
Finally, the bill subjects BPA's employees to certain merit system principles.
