Commonwealth Aluminum Corp. v. United States

OPINION

BRUGGINK, Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Pending before the court is defendant’s motion for summary judgment. It raises the question of whether res judicata bars plaintiffs from asserting that defendant’s imposition of a “customer charge” in accordance with applicable electric power rate schedules constitutes a breach of plaintiffs’ contracts for the purchase of electrical power. For the reasons discussed below, the motion is granted.

BACKGROUND1

The Bonneville Power Administration (“BPA”) is a self-financing agency within the United States Department of Energy that markets electrical power generated…