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PacifiCorp's operations are conducted under numerous franchise agreements, certificates, permits and licenses obtained from federal, state and local authorities. The average term of the franchise agreements is approximately 28 years, although their terms range from five years to indefinite. Several of these franchise agreements allow the municipality the right to seek amendment to the franchise agreement at a specified time during the term. PacifiCorp generally has an exclusive right to serve electric customers within its service territories and, in turn, has an obligation to provide electric service to those customers.
The GWh and percentages of electricity sold to retail customers by jurisdiction for the years ended December 31 were as follows:
The following map highlights PacifiCorp's retail service territories, generating facility locations, coal mines in which PacifiCorp has an interest and PacifiCorp's primary transmission lines as of December 31, 2013. PacifiCorp's generating facilities are interconnected through PacifiCorp's own transmission lines or by contract through transmission lines owned by others.
(a) Access to other entities' transmission lines through wheeling arrangements.
Customers Electricity sold to retail and wholesale customers by class of customer and the average number of retail customers for the years
ended December 31 were as follows:
Customer Usage and Seasonality Changes in economic and weather conditions, as well as various conservation, energy efficiency and customer self-generation measures and programs, impact customer usage. In the eastern side of PacifiCorp's service territory, customer usage levels increased during 2012 and 2013 due to favorable weather and improved economic conditions. In the western side of PacifiCorp's service territory, declining usage levels due to the effects of economic conditions began to stabilize in 2012 and improved in 2013. Customer usage levels in the western side of PacifiCorp's service territory also increased in 2013 due to favorable weather. Certain large industrial customers with generation capabilities began to self-generate in 2012 resulting in lower industrial customer usage across PacifiCorp's service territories. However, the impact of improved economic conditions on industrial customer usage in 2013 more than offset the impact of industrial customer self-generation.
The annual hourly peak customer demand, which represents the highest demand on a given day and at a given hour, is typically highest in the summer across PacifiCorp's service territory when air conditioning and irrigation systems are heavily used. The service territory also has a winter peak, which is primarily due to heating requirements in the western portion of PacifiCorp's service territory. During 2013, PacifiCorp's peak demand was 10,507 MW in the summer and 9,451 MW in the winter.
Generating Facilities and Fuel Supply
PacifiCorp is required to have resources available to continuously meet its customer needs. The percentage of PacifiCorp's energy supplied by energy source varies from year to year and is subject to numerous operational and economic factors such as planned and unplanned outages, fuel commodity prices, fuel transportation costs, weather, environmental considerations, transmission constraints, and wholesale market prices of electricity. PacifiCorp evaluates these factors continuously in order to facilitate economical dispatch of its generating facilities. When factors for one energy source are less favorable, PacifiCorp must place more reliance on other energy sources. For example, PacifiCorp can generate more electricity using its low cost hydroelectric and windpowered generating facilities when factors associated with these facilities are favorable. When factors associated with hydroelectric and wind resources are less favorable, PacifiCorp increases its reliance on coal- and natural gas-fueled generation or purchased electricity.
In addition to meeting its customers' energy needs, PacifiCorp is required to maintain operating reserves on its system to mitigate the impacts of unplanned outages or other disruption in supply, and to meet intra-hour changes in load and resource balance. This operating reserve requirement is dispersed across PacifiCorp's generation portfolio on a least-cost basis based on the operating characteristics of the portfolio. Operating reserves may be held on hydroelectric, coal-fueled or natural gas-fueled resources.
PacifiCorp manages certain risks relating to its supply of electricity and fuel requirements by entering into various contracts, which may be accounted for as derivatives, including forwards, options, swaps and other agreements. Refer to "General Regulation" in Item 1 of this Form 10-K for a discussion of energy cost recovery by jurisdiction and Item 7A in this Form 10-K for a discussion of commodity price risk and derivative contracts.
PacifiCorp has ownership interest in a diverse portfolio of generating facilities. The following table presents certain information
regarding PacifiCorp's owned generating facilities as of December 31, 2013:
(2) PacifiCorp currently plans to convert Naughton Unit No. 3 (330 MWs) to a natural gas-fueled unit. Refer to "Environmental Laws and Regulations" in Item 7 of this Form 10-K for further discussion.
(3) PacifiCorp currently anticipates retiring the Carbon coal-fueled generating facility ("Carbon Facility") in early 2015. Refer to "Environmental Laws and Regulations" in Item 7 of this Form 10-K for further discussion.
(4) All or some of the renewable energy attributes associated with generation from these generating facilities may be: (a) used in future years to comply with RPS or other regulatory requirements or (b) sold to third parties in the form of RECs or other environmental commodities.
(5) The license for these facilities is valid through May 2058.
(6) The license for these facilities is valid through October 2038.
(7) The license for these facilities was valid through February 2006, and they currently operate under annual licenses. Refer to Note 13 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Form 10-K for an update regarding hydroelectric relicensing for the Klamath River hydroelectric system.
(8) The license is valid through March 2024 for Cutler and through November 2033 for the Grace, Oneida and Soda hydroelectric generating facilities.
(9) The license is valid through December 2018 for Prospect No. 3 and through March 2038 for the Prospect Nos. 1, 2 and 4 hydroelectric generating facilities. In 2013, PacifiCorp began the relicensing process for Prospect No. 3 pursuant to the FERC Integrated Licensing Process.
(10) Facility Net Capacity and Net Owned Capacity for projects under construction each represent the estimated capability.
The following table shows the percentages of PacifiCorp's total energy supplied by energy source for the years ended December 31:
(1) All or some of the renewable energy attributes associated with generation from these generating facilities may be: (a) used in future years to comply with RPS or other regulatory requirements or (b) sold to third parties in the form of RECs or other environmental commodities.
Coal PacifiCorp has interests in coal mines that support its coal-fueled generating facilities and operates the Deer Creek, Bridger surface and Bridger underground coal mines. These mines supplied 31%, 30% and 28% of PacifiCorp's total coal requirements during the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The remaining coal requirements are acquired through longand short-term third-party contracts. PacifiCorp also operates the Cottonwood Preparatory Plant and Wyodak Coal Crushing Facility. PacifiCorp's mines are located adjacent to certain of its coal-fueled generating facilities, which significantly reduces overall transportation costs. Most of PacifiCorp's coal reserves are held pursuant to leases through the federal Bureau of Land Management and from certain states and private parties. The leases generally have multi-year terms that may be renewed or extended only with the consent of the lessor and require payment of rents and royalties. In addition, federal and state regulations require that comprehensive environmental protection and reclamation standards be met during the course of mining operations and upon completion of mining activities.
Coal reserve estimates are subject to adjustment as a result of the development of additional engineering and geological data, new mining technology and changes in regulation and economic factors affecting the utilization of such reserves. Recoverable coal
reserves of operating mines as of December 31, 2013, based on recent engineering studies, were as follows (in millions):
(1) These coal reserves are leased and mined by Bridger Coal, a joint venture between PMI and a subsidiary of Idaho Power Company. PMI, a wholly owned subsidiary of PacifiCorp, has a two-thirds interest in the joint venture. The amounts included above represent only PacifiCorp's two-thirds interest in the coal reserves.
(2) These coal reserves are leased by PacifiCorp and mined by a wholly owned subsidiary of PacifiCorp.
(3) These coal reserves are leased and mined by Trapper Mining Inc., a cooperative in which PacifiCorp has an ownership interest of 21%. The amount included above represents only PacifiCorp's 21% interest in the coal reserves. PacifiCorp does not operate the Trapper mine.
For surface mine operations, PacifiCorp removes the overburden with heavy earth-moving equipment, such as draglines and power shovels. Once exposed, PacifiCorp drills, fractures and systematically removes the coal using haul trucks or conveyors to transport the coal to the associated generating facility. PacifiCorp reclaims disturbed areas as part of its normal mining activities. After final coal removal, draglines, power shovels, excavators or loaders are used to backfill the remaining pits with the overburden removed during the coal uncovering process. Once the overburden and topsoil have been replaced, vegetation is re-established, and other improvements are made that have local community and environmental benefits.
For underground mine operations, a longwall is used as a mechanical shearer to extract coal from long rectangular blocks of medium to thick seams that are initially developed by the use of continuous miner machines. In longwall mining, hydraulically powered supports temporarily hold up the roof of the mine while a rotating drum mechanically advances across the face of the coal seam, cutting the coal from the face. Chain conveyors then move the loosened coal to an underground mine conveyor system for delivery to the surface. Once coal is extracted from an area, the roof is allowed to collapse in a controlled fashion.
In June 2011, Fossil Rock Fuels, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of PacifiCorp, acquired the Cottonwood coal reserve lease in Emery County Utah. The coal lease contains an estimated 47 million tons of recoverable coal available to supply PacifiCorp's coal-fueled generating facilities in Utah in the future.
Recoverability by surface mining methods typically ranges from 90% to 95%. Recoverability by underground mining techniques ranges from 50% to 70%. To meet applicable standards, PacifiCorp blends coal mined at its owned mines with contracted coal and utilizes emissions reduction technologies for controlling sulfur dioxide and other emissions. For fuel needs at PacifiCorp's coal-fueled generating facilities in excess of coal reserves available, PacifiCorp believes it will be able to purchase coal under both long- and short-term contracts to supply its generating facilities over their currently expected remaining useful lives.
Natural Gas
PacifiCorp uses natural gas as fuel for its combined- and simple-cycle natural gas-fueled generating facilities and for the Gadsby Steam generating facility. Oil and natural gas are also used for igniter fuel and standby purposes. These sources are presently in adequate supply and available to meet PacifiCorp's needs.
PacifiCorp enters into forward natural gas purchases at fixed or indexed market prices. PacifiCorp purchases natural gas in the spot market with both fixed and indexed market prices for physical delivery to fulfill any fuel requirements not already satisfied through forward purchases of natural gas and sells natural gas in the spot market for the disposition of any excess supply if the forecasted requirements of its natural gas-fueled generating facilities decrease. PacifiCorp also utilizes financial swap contracts to mitigate price risk associated with its forecasted fuel requirements.
Hydroelectric
The amount of electricity PacifiCorp is able to generate from its hydroelectric facilities depends on a number of factors, including snowpack in the mountains upstream of its hydroelectric facilities, reservoir storage, precipitation in its watersheds, generating unit availability and restrictions imposed by oversight bodies due to competing water management objectives.
PacifiCorp operates the majority of its hydroelectric generating portfolio under long-term licenses. The FERC regulates 98% of the net capacity of this portfolio through 15 individual licenses, which have terms of 30 to 50 years. A portion of this portfolio is licensed under the Oregon Hydroelectric Act. For further discussion of PacifiCorp's hydroelectric relicensing activities, including updated information regarding the Klamath River hydroelectric system, refer to Note 13 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Wind and Other Renewable Resources