Op-ed: BPA needs to think about costs, customers

In Montana and across the Northwest, energy demand is climbing. Add to that increasingly severe weather events, and you have a recipe for high costs and insufficient energy and transmission during peak demand. To address this, our region needs more access to reliable, affordable and renewable energy for decades to come. One way to do that is to tap into diverse energy resources by sharing power across a broad, interconnected Western transmission system.

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), as the primary distributor of power from federal dams across the Northwest, has transmission lines that stretch throughout the region — including in western Montana. BPA’s lines connect reliable, affordable wind and hydro power to its utility customers, and in turn, to homeowners and businesses in Montana and the region.

For decades, BPA and its partners have traded power to meet local needs. NorthWestern Energy also trades as a member of an existing western market that has garnered the utility over $134 million in benefits since 2021. But as energy demand climbs and severe weather stresses our grid, we must modernize the system. That’s why a broad array of stakeholders is expanding the current energy trading market to access lower-cost electricity, particularly during times of severe weather when electricity demand peaks.

This larger and more robust market, known as the Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM), will build upon the success of the existing western power market and allow for even more stability, by buying and selling electricity the day before it’s needed. Unfortunately, a smaller, less robust market is also vying for our utilities’ business—the Southwest Power Pool’s Markets+.

Done well, expanding the existing energy market can strengthen our regional economy and increase energy resilience by accessing diverse, low-cost energy resources. However, choosing the wrong market could do just the opposite – translating into escalating energy bills, less reliable energy supplies, and fewer low-cost, renewable energy resources to meet growing energy needs. Like any market a larger size provides more opportunity to find the lowest cost options to meet our needs. This is why several Western utilities have announced intentions to join the larger EDAM market.

Regrettably, BPA recently announced its plan to join the Arkansas-based, Markets+, a surprising decision in light of the clear benefits of expanding a Western market through EDAM. BPA’s own studies show that joining Markets+ is a costly decision: Over the next decade, customers in the region could pay over $4 billion due to BPA’s choice. Because BPA operates 80 percent of the Northwest’s transmission system and sells power to nearly all utilities in the region, most of us can expect to face higher monthly bills as a result.

Fearing escalating power costs, energy and business leaders around the region have voiced serious concerns about BPA’s choice to join Markets+. But BPA ignored Montanans and hundreds of others across the region, who had urged the agency to prioritize EDAM’s larger market and resource diversity, to save costs for utility customers.

We urge BPA, the region’s largest energy supplier, to reconsider its decision. This is a pivotal moment in our energy future, and decisions today will have ramifications for generations to come. We all share the goal of abundant, affordable energy. As residents and utility customers, western Montanans have invested in BPA for decades. It’s incumbent on BPA to return that public investment by safeguarding our shared resources and protecting our region’s future.

As BPA’s own analysis shows, joining EDAM is the best answer for BPA and other utilities in our region. By doing so, we become part of a regional solution that will cut customers’ costs, improve regional energy reliability, increase the development of clean energy, and secure our children and grandchildren a more prosperous future.

Published in The Missoulian on August 12, 2025. For more information please contact Derek Goldman at derek@nwenergy.org.