In February, at the peak of Elon Musk’s layoff-spree at the federal government, the Trump administration laid off hundreds of power grid workers, including dispatchers, transmission schedulers, field workers, and real time traders.
The layoffs at the nation’s four power marketing administrations — or PMAs, which market and transmit wholesale electricity — caused an uproar in the energy sector due to concerns that the loss of key personnel would drastically increase the likelihood of unplanned outages across the country. Days later, the administration reversed many of those cuts.
In the weeks that followed, though, uncertainty has complicated the work of the Department of Energy, which oversees the PMAs. Both contract workers and probationary employees have been fired and then many have been brought back; and meanwhile certain types of funding have been paused, spelling an existential threat for many small energy startups.
But as additional restructuring — what Energy Secretary Chris Wright has called a “large-scale reduction in force” — looms over the agency this month, it appears the Trump administration doesn’t intend to make the same mistake twice when it comes to the PMAs.
According to documents reviewed by Latitude Media, all four power marketing administrations have been deemed “essential organizations” by the Trump administration.
Some offices within DOE are anticipating reductions in force of 75%; and others, like the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, are expected to be shut down entirely.
But the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA), and Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA) are together looking at reductions of no more than 10%, according to the documents, and potentially less. Of the total 5,176 positions across the four administrations, 4,650 of them are categorized as “essential.”
The Bonneville case study
Many of the PMAs were already understaffed, even before the Department of Government Efficiency arrived at DOE.
But nonetheless, the Bonneville Power Administration — which controls more than 75% of the high-voltage transmission lines in the Pacific Northwest plus power from more than 30 federal dams and a nuclear power plant — saw around 200 workers laid off in February. Nearly 100 crucial open positions were frozen, and several offer letters were rescinded.
It was a serious challenge, officials told Latitude Media, because like other parts of the energy industry, the PMA’s have a large pipeline of retirements, and a hard time hiring.
The irony of the layoffs at Bonneville were particularly stark, because that entity isn’t funded by the federal government. Instead, Bonneville operates more like a traditional utility, with ratepayer money flowing directly to it, rather than through the Treasury.
In a letter that industry stakeholders addressed to Wright in the wake of the layoffs, they urged Musk and Trump to “recognize PMA employees as essential contributors to the administration’s energy vision.”
