ELR Citation: 43 ELR 20242
No(s). 11-73178 (9th Cir. Oct 28, 2013)

The Ninth Circuit approved a settlement agreement between the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and a large number of its energy customers that sets terms for refunding customers who were previously overcharged as well as new rate terms for the next 17 years. BPA argued that the plaintiff—a group of nine industrial companies that purchase power from public agencies but are not direct customers of BPA—lacked standing to challenge the settlement. But due to the "pass-through" contracts under which the companies paid rates that directly reflected the rates that the BPA charged its direct customers, the group has both constitutional and prudential standing. Nevertheless, the group's claims challenging the settlement were rejected. The settlement complied with the relevant statutory requirements of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Act and the Bonneville Project Act, FERC regulations, and court precedent. Nor does the settlement improperly bind non-settling parties to the agreement. And the BPA Administrator's adoption of the settlement in a record of decision was not arbitrary and capricious.