United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Accounting and Information Management Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1998-06-30 monographic deposited born digital 41 p. GA 1.13:AIMD-98-164 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-164 P0b002ee18039bbf4 f:ai98164 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-164 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-164 AIMD-98-164 Electric utilities Energy marketing Utility rates Electric power generation Retirement benefits Financial analysis Losses Civil Service Retirement System Letter Report AIMD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the monitoring of the repayment of the power-related costs and debt of four of the Department of Energy's (DOE) power marketing administrations (PMA), focusing on determining whether: (1) DOE or the Department of the Treasury actively monitors the amount of debt to be repaid and the appropriateness of the annual payments; and (2) there is a potential for financial loss to the federal government as a result of any lack of such monitoring of the repayment.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) current monitoring activities do not ensure that the federal government recovers the full cost of its power-related activities from the beneficiaries of federal power; (2) the full cost of the power-related activities includes all direct and indirect costs incurred by the federal government in producing, transmitting, and marketing federal power; (3) audits by external auditors and GAO's own work have identified various unrecovered power-related costs that resulted in financial loss; (4) progress toward resolving cost recovery issues has been slow or nonexistent; (5) unrecovered power-related costs relate to: (a) Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) pensions and post-retirement health benefits; (b) life insurance benefits; (c) workers' compensation benefits; and (d) interest on some of the federal appropriations used to construct certain projects; (6) GAO estimated that the federal government's unrecovered costs for CSRS pensions and post-retirement health benefits were about $37 million for fiscal year (FY) 1996 and about $192 million for FY 1992 through FY 1996; (7) the full magnitude of the under-recovery of power-related costs is unknown; (8) until an effective monitoring system is implemented, the federal government will continue to be exposed to financial loss to the under-recovery of power-related costs; (9) the current activities for monitoring the repayment of power-related costs and debt are less extensive than those undertaken in prior years; (10) previously, DOE's Office of Power Marketing Coordination (OPMC) monitored repayment and reviewed rate proposals before they were sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for review; however, DOE disbanded OPMC in 1984 and its monitoring duties generally were not assigned to another entity; (11) OPMC assessed whether appropriate costs were included in rates, but did not review the PMAs' power repayment studies in detail; (12) the scope of FERC's review of the three PMAs' rates was limited by the Secretary of Energy's 1983 revision to the delegation order under which FERC carries out that function; (13) the scope of FERC's review of Bonneville's rates was limited by the passage of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act; and (14) the review procedures previously performed by DOE's OPMC and FERC provided greater assurance that repayment amounts were accurate, complete, and timely. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-164/html/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-164.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-164/pdf/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-164.pdf GAO/AIMD-98-164 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-164 Letter Report GAO/AIMD-98-164; Power Marketing Administrations: Repayment of Power Costs Needs Closer Monitoring; Electric utilities Energy marketing Utility rates Electric power generation Retirement benefits Financial analysis Losses Civil Service Retirement System Volume 110 Page 1321-350 110 Stat. 1321-350 Public Law 103-134