A Power Marketing Administration (PMA) is a United States federal agency within the Department of Energy with the responsibility for marketing hydropower, primarily from multiple-purpose water projects operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The federal government first assumed a role in power marketing in the early 1900s when power from federal water projects in excess of project needs was sold in order to repay the government's investment in the projects.
There are four federal PMAs, which market and deliver power in 34 U.S. states:
- Bonneville Power Administration
- Southeastern Power Administration
- Southwestern Power Administration
- Western Area Power Administration
Famous quotes containing the word power:
“A state that denies its citizens their basic rights becomes a danger to its neighbors as well: internal arbitrary rule will be reflected in arbitrary external relations. The suppression of public opinion, the abolition of public competition for power and its public exercise opens the way for the state power to arm itself in any way it sees fit.... A state that does not hesitate to lie to its own people will not hesitate to lie to other states.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)