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Act Now: Submit a comment to the Bonneville Power Administration. Then, contact your Senators, Representative, and Governor to inform them of the dire consequences of BPA’s decision and urge them to weigh in with the agency.

BREAKING: The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which sells power from federal dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, published a draft decision to join Markets+. If BPA joins Markets+, it will create significant problems for regional electric prices, decarbonization, and salmon recovery.

Energy markets are formal structures through which electric utilities can buy and sell energy. In the West, two day-ahead energy markets are competing to attract utilities to join their footprint. In general, markets with more participants and a wider footprint create greater benefits and efficiencies, which are shared among the participants. A day-ahead market is a structure where participants buy and sell electricity at a set price for the following day. For several years, the BPA has been going through a process to determine which market to join. Now, they’re headed toward the wrong market.

The Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM) is the larger and more well-developed of the two. Built on the successful Western Energy Imbalance Market, which most Western utilities have already joined, several major utility players have already signaled their intent to join EDAM, including PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric, Idaho Power and NV Energy. EDAM’s structure has been largely approved by federal regulators and is expected to go live in 2026.

Markets+, developed by the Southwest Power Pool, is the other market. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved this construct, although they noted several to-be-developed parts. Because SPP must build Markets+ from scratch, the timeline for this market’s full development is uncertain.

BPA expects to finalize their decision in early May. We need your help to urge BPA, and Northwest elected officials, to unify the west, rather than split the market, in order to lower energy costs for consumers AND decarbonize the energy grid.

ACT NOW:

Submit a comment on BPA’s draft decision to Administrator John Hairston.
Contact your Senators, Representative, and Governor, informing them of the dire consequences BPA’s decision has and why they should weigh in with the agency.

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT COMMENTS: 10AM on April 7th.

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Additional Background:

In March 2025, BPA published a draft decision to join Markets+ and said it would finalize its decision in May. If the agency doesn’t change course, it will make the pathway to regional decarbonization much harder and leave significant savings for its customers on the table. Joining EDAM is a better path. The broad base of clean resources available through EDAM could allow BPA to generate less power from the federal hydrosystem and reduce harm to endangered migrating salmon and steelhead. EDAM is also more likely to encourage development of new carbon-free resources and transmission which could then be spread out among a larger region, creating savings for customers.

Here are some facts:

A study commissioned by BPA itself in 2024 showed that joining Markets+ would result in $65M to $221M higher production costs per year than joining EDAM.
A similar study commissioned by the Northwest Energy Coalition and others found that by joining Markets+, BPA’s costs will be about $148M higher than joining EDAM and $83M higher than maintaining current operations and joining no market.
The two markets have drastically different setup costs: BPA would spend an estimated $3M to help create EDAM, but up to $40M to implement Markets+.
EDAM’s footprint is already larger than that of Markets+, with more diverse resources and fewer gaps or “seams” between market participants. This allows for more efficient sharing of resources within the market and more value for renewable resources.

All of these higher production costs incurred by BPA through this decision will be borne by ratepayers in the Northwest. As BPA’s costs grow, so do its rates. Seattle City Light estimated that, based on its share of the BPA system, the decision to join Markets+ would increase power costs for Seattle residents by up to $21 million per year.

Here’s some other factors BPA should consider:

There’s no reason to decide on joining any market right now. Both markets are still shaping into form and BPA has already said it won’t join any market until 2028.
EDAM is only getting better. Heeding concerns from across the region, the California state legislature is expected to adopt changes to how EDAM is governed so it is independent of any entity and controlled by Western interests. BPA discounts this progress in its justification for choosing Markets+, which is dominated by only utilities.
Markets+ shuts the door to public participation. Unlike EDAM, Markets+ makes it difficult for public groups like SOS and NW Energy Coalition, of which SOS is a member group, to weigh in. EDAM has a robust public participation process so utilities aren’t the only voices.

BPA joining Markets+ will split the region and dilute the benefits. Western utilities and BPA should unify into a single market, not a bifurcated system. A single Westwide power market will allow broader use and development of lower cost, carbon-free power sources that will aid in decarbonizing the energy system and lowering electricity costs for consumers.

For more information, please view the Northwest Energy Coalition’s resources here .

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Member of Congress and NW Governors

Subject: BPA and Day-Ahead Energy Markets

Message:

The Bonneville Power Administration is in the midst of a decision that would be a disaster for Northwest ratepayers and energy developers. In March, BPA announced a draft decision to join the Southwest Power Pool’s Markets+ day-ahead energy market, choosing this option over the Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM), which is larger and more connected with Western utilities. I just took time to submit a public comment to BPA, objecting to this decision. However, because BPA has made this decision in spite of a growing business case against joining Markets+, I’m asking you to weigh in too. I believe Bonneville is not acting in the best interests of its customers or the Pacific Northwest by making this decision. - Joining Markets+ will cost BPA and its customers at least $69M annually, compared to EDAM, as shown by BPA’s own analysis. Studies show it will also be more expensive for BPA to join Markets+ than to just continue its current operations and join neither market. BPA will also pay up to $40 million in startup costs to Markets+. - By joining Markets+, BPA is splitting the West into two energy markets. This will cause reliability concerns and inefficiencies as market participants are less able to share resources with one another throughout the region. - More efficient resource sharing in a larger market means less buildout of new energy resources, lower prices for ratepayers, and fewer blackouts. As multiple utilities, large customers, energy trade groups, unions, and other Bonneville stakeholders have stated, BPA’s decision to join Markets+ will lead to higher energy prices and greater reliability challenges than joining the Extended Day Ahead Market or just maintaining current operations and continuing to assess day-ahead market options. I ask you to publicly call on BPA administrator Hairston to act in the best interests of their customers and change or pause this decision. Thank you for your leadership on this important matter. Regards,

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Administrator John Hairston

Subject: Re: Comment on BPA’s day-ahead market draft policy

Message:

Thank you for providing the opportunity to comment on BPA’s draft decision to join the Markets+ day-ahead energy market. I disagree with the draft decision and ask you to reconsider. As a ratepayer and electricity customer in the Pacific Northwest, I want the lowest possible electric rates. Studies that you’ve commissioned show that joining Markets+ would increase BPA’s system costs by at least $65 million over joining EDAM. Those same studies show that just maintaining current operations would be better, financially, than joining Markets+. BPA has a fiduciary responsibility to its customer utilities and to the entire region. No minor differences in market governance structure justify raising electric rates to this degree. In addition, fragmenting the Western energy system into two markets will create greater reliability challenges and reduce the efficiency of renewable resources. By joining Markets+, BPA is splitting the region into two markets and diluting the benefits of these markets for individual utilities and their customers. Seams between the markets will lead to resources being shared less efficiently, creating higher costs for consumers while slowing our progress toward decarbonization. BPA is not acting in the best interests of its customers or the Pacific Northwest. Based on existing analysis, there is clearly a business case for BPA to join EDAM and I ask that BPA’s final decision on day-ahead markets reflect that case. If not, I ask you to pause this decision until clear, conclusive analysis can be completed on the consequences of market participation to BPA’s ratepayers. I also ask you to factor the forthcoming passage of the Western Pathways legislation in the California Legislature into your decision and wait until that legislation either passes or fails this legislative session. Sincerely,

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Act Now: Submit a comment to the Bonneville Power Administration. Then, contact your Senators, Representative, and Governor to inform them of the dire consequences of BPA’s decision and urge them to weigh in with the agency.

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