Summary: In recent years, Congress has weighed the pros and cons of privatizing the federal power marketing administrations (PMA), which transmit and sell electric power generated at federal hydropower facilities. This report provides information on three of these PMAs--the Southeastern Power Administration, the Southwestern Power Administration, and the Western Area Power Administration. GAO answers the following three questions: Have all power-related costs incurred through September 1995 been recovered through the PMA's electricity rates? Is the financing for power-related capital projects subsidized by the federal government and, if so, to what extent? How do PMAs differ from nonfederal utilities and what is the impact of these differences on power production costs? GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Power Marketing Administrations: Cost Recovery, Financing, and Comparison to Nonfederal Utilities, by Linda M. Calbom, Director of Civil Audits, before the Subcommittee on Water and Power Resources, House Committee on Resources. GAO/T-AIMD-96-169, Sept. 19 (15 pages).
