Generation Sources
Central Montana Electric Power Cooperative does not own generation. Generation to serve Central’s members is provided through purchase agreements with Three entities.
- The Western Area Power Administration (WAPA); Central has long term contracts with WAPA to serve a portion of the members loads. These contracts are for defined amounts of energy and capacity each month. The electricity WAPA provides Central comes from Government dams on the Missouri river drainage. The price Central pays includes payment of an allocated portion of the government dams cost including operation and expenses along with the transmission of the electricity.
- Bonneville Power Administration (BPA); BPA markets and transmits electricity generated at Federal Dams located along the Columbia River drainage in the North West. Generally BPA is prohibited from selling East of the continental divide, but a provision in law allowed them to sell to Central for a fixed period of time. This is due to surplus power they had in the late 90s. The surplus was a result of very low natural gas prices and many entities buying from marketers such as Enron. Central took advantage of this opportunity contracting with BPA to purchase from 2001 through 2011 paying similar costs as other public power customers in the Northwest. This price, similar to WAPA’s pricing covers repayment of an allocated cost of the dams along with operations and expenses along with the transmission of the electricity. BPA will no longer be able to sell to Central post 2011.
- Basin Electric Power Cooperative. Central joined other like cooperatives in a multi state region over 50 years ago when power from the government dams became fully utilized and cooperatives had to look for other sources. The decision to form Basin Electric to build generation has proven to be a great American success story. Basin has coal fired, gas fired and renewable generation to meet our needs in excess of WAPA and BPA. As the supply from BPA ramps down Basin’s supply to Central ramps up to meet the electrical needs of Central’s member systems.
