Facts about Western

Western Area Power Administration markets and transmits reliable, cost-based hydroelectric power, and related services. We sell power from 57 powerplants operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the International Boundary and Water Commission. Additionally, Western markets the United States’ 24.3 percent entitlement (547 megawatts) from the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona. Current maximum installed capability is 10,505 megawatts.

Western’s service area covers 1.3 million square miles (3.38 million square kilometers). Western’s wholesale power customers provide service to millions of consumers in 15 western states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming). In addition to our Corporate Services Office in Lakewood, Colo., Western operates and maintains the transmission system from its four regional offices in Billings, Mont.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Loveland, Colo.; and Folsom, Calif. We market power from these regions and our CRSP Management Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

During Fiscal Year 2011 (October 2010—September 2011), Western:

• supplied hydroelectric power to 687 wholesale power customers.
• operated and maintained more than 17,100 miles of transmission lines, 321 substations and other related facilities.
• sold 42.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of power—enough to serve about 12 million homes for one year.
• employed 1,418 full-time equivalent Federal employees and several hundred contract workers.