Bonneville Power Administration 1997 Annual Report.

The Bonneville Power Administration`s 60th anniversary year exceeded expectations. Net revenues were the best since 1991, which demonstrates that earlier decisions to transform BPA into a smaller, cost-conscious, customer-focused organization were the correct decisions. The region`s evaluation of the agency`s role in the Northwest was as gratifying as the positive financial position. Through the Comprehensive Review of the Northwest Energy System, the region concluded that BPA has been and must continue to be an important economic and environmental benefit to the Northwest. BPA occupies a unique position in the region that is crystallized in the agency`s new purpose statement: to meet their public responsibilities through commercially successful businesses. The agency must be commercially successful to provide funding for public responsibilities such as its fish and wildlife program, conservation, and reliable power and transmission systems. But the heart and soul of the agency is providing benefits that reflect the public service orientation that inspired the agency`s creation 60 years ago. BPA will provide the region with power at cost, provide preference to the region because the river on which the hydro system is based is a regional resource, and continue to see that its power flows to the little guys. It is just as important that BPA deliver power to the region`s residential and rural consumers now as it was when the agency brought electricity to rural areas for the first time