United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1999-06-24 monographic deposited born digital 20 p. GA 1.13:T-RCED/AIMD-99-229 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-AIMD-99-229 P0b002ee1803a4e0a f:r199229t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-AIMD-99-229 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-AIMD-99-229 T-RCED/AIMD-99-229 Electric utilities Energy marketing Utility rates Electric power generation Air pollution control Competition Hydroelectric energy Energy costs Testimony RCED AIMD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the role of the power marketing administrations (PMA) in a restructured electricity industry, focusing on five goals of deregulating the retail electricity market.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) one major goal of deregulating the retail electricity market is encouraging retail price competition; (2) removing practices that treat potential competitors inconsistently and providing customers with lower electricity prices are two major considerations; (3) the PMAs are generally able to sell power more cheaply than other providers in part because they sell electricity generated almost exclusively by hydropower and because some of the government's costs are not recovered through the PMAs' rates; (4) GAO estimated net financing costs attributable to the PMAs to be about $585 million in fiscal year 1996; (5) unlike the investor-owned utilities, the PMAs are not required to earn a profit; (6) the PMAs and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) also have competitive advantages in financing, taxes, and regulatory oversight; (7) protecting the environment is the second broad goal; (8) because the electricity industry is a major source of air pollution, the debate over restructuring includes the question of how changes in how electricity is generated could affect the environment; (9) concern exists that competitive markets may result in increased emissions of pollutants from the burning of fossil fuels; (10) although the mix of sources generating electricity may change, over 50 percent of TVA's power is generated from coal, whereas less than 2 percent of the PMAs' power is generated from coal; (11) the PMAs' hydropower may offer potential environmental advantages over other electricity sources because it is a clean, domestic, and renewable source of energy; (12) however, hydropower facilities can have significant impacts on fish and wildlife habitats; (13) balancing equity among shareholders is the third broad goal; (14) Congress has the option of requiring the PMAs to sell their power at market rates; (15) this would better ensure the full recovery of the appropriated and other debt of about $22 billion through the PMAs' power sales; (16) the fourth broad goal of restructuring is maintaining the reliability of the interstate transmission grid; (17) an issue that directly relates to the PMAs is the maintenance of reserves that can be called upon to meet planned or unforeseen outages by power providers; (18) the last broad goal is promoting deregulation by redefining federal roles, such as those of federal regulatory agencies; and (19) while restructuring has focused largely on deregulating the retail market, some segments of the electricity industry may face new or increased regulations to address market power and consumer protection issues. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-AIMD-99-229/html/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-AIMD-99-229.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-AIMD-99-229/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-AIMD-99-229.pdf GAO/T-RCED/AIMD-99-229 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-AIMD-99-229 Testimony GAO/T-RCED/AIMD-99-229; Federal Power: The Role of the Power Marketing; Electric utilities Energy marketing Utility rates Electric power generation Air pollution control Competition Hydroelectric energy Energy costs