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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS For some time, the Bureau of Reclamation has been studying transmission system requirements for the Colorado River Storage Project. Several private utilities in the Project market area have offered to provide part of the needed transmission by wheeling power for the Bureau. An evaluation of that offer is therefore being made by the Bureau, for comparison with costs of transmission using an all-federal system meeting general requirements announced as a "yardstickG" The results of this study have not been made public; however, the Bureau has released its estimates of costs associated with the "yardstick" system, and with federal construction required to complete transmission requirements should utility wheeling offers be accepted. Amendments to earlier wheeling conditions have also been released. With this new and more precise informa- tion, the Colorado River Basin Consumers Power, Inc. was able to refine its August 1, 1960 analysis of the two transmission alternates. Such a study has been made, as presented in some detail in the report which follows. From the results developed, it is concluded that the desired criteria previously set out in House Committee Report No. 1087, 84th Congress and letter from E. O. Larson, Director of Region 4, Bureau of Reclamation, January 19, 1960,1 cannot be met by adopting the utilities' proposal without raising consumer power rates to the extent of at least $492 million over the 100-year study period. This difference could be increased by as much as $167 million, for a total difference in power rates of $659 million, by recog- nizing wheeling revenues for energy displaced or interchanged over Bureau transmission lines. From these figures, we can only recommend construction of the all-federal system. 1 See appendix, page xxii, for pertinent excerpt.