Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program-Eastern Division-Rate Order No. WAPA-218

The Upper Great Plains (UGP) region of the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) proposes new formula rates for the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program--Eastern Division (P-SMBP--ED) transmission and ancillary services for UGP's costs to be recovered under the Southwest Power Pool's (SPP) Open Access Transmission Tariff (Tariff) should UGP decide to expand its participation in SPP in the Western Interconnection. These rates will be used by UGP to provide rate data to SPP, the Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) of which UGP is a member, after SPP's planned expansion of the RTO into the Western Interconnection on April 1, 2026. The existing UGP rates for services expire on September 30, 2025, but are being extended under a separate rate process, Rate Order No, WAPA-217, to continue to provide existing rate data to SPP between October 1, 2025, and final implementation date of the planned RTO expansion into the Western Interconnection. The proposed rates will address UGP operating changes and new provisions and settlement requirements under the proposed revisions to SPP's Tariff filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to accommodate their RTO expansion into the Western Interconnection. The proposed formula rates will become effective on the go-live date of the expansion of the SPP RTO into the Western Interconnection (scheduled for April 1, 2026, as of the date of this notice) and will remain in effect for five years from the effective date, which with an effective date of April 1, 2026, will be March 31, 2031, or until superseded.