Pacificorp, a Maine Corporation, Dba Pacific Power & Light Company v. Bonneville Power Administration

Pacificorp is an investor-owned electric utility company serving retail customers in Alturas, California, a city having a population of about 3000. Pacificorp appeals the decision of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to serve Alturas with firm power through a creative use of the city’s power of eminent domain and the preference afforded the Surprise Valley Electrification Corporation (SVEC) as a rural electrification beneficiary. See Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act (Planning Act), 16 U.S.C. § 839 et seq. (1982).

SVEC is an electrical cooperative organized under the Rural Electrification Administration, and, as such, it receives BPA power at the priority firm rate. As a full requirements customer of BPA, SVEC purchases all of its energy requirements from BPA at a very favorable price. SVEC now serves loads in Oregon, Nevada, and California. SVEC maintains offices in Alturas but does not presently serve customers in that city. Its customers are mostly isolated ranches that could not profitably be served by investor-owned utilities.

For a number of years, SVEC has served retail customers located south of the northern boundary of Township 35…