(a) Contents of load forecast. All load forecasts submitted by borrowers for approval must include:

(1) A narrative describing the borrower's system, service territory, and consumers;

(2) A narrative description of the borrower's load forecast including future load projections, forecast assumptions, and the methods and procedures used to develop the forecast;

(3) Projections of usage by consumer class, number of consumers by class, annual system peak demand, and season of peak demand for the number of years agreed upon by RUS and the borrower;

(4) A summary of the year-by-year results of the load forecast in a format that allows efficient transfer of the information to other borrower planning or loan support documents;

(5) The load impacts of a borrower's demand side management and energy efficiency and conservation program activities, if applicable;

(6) Graphic representations of the variables specifically identified by management as influencing a borrower's loads; and

(7) A database that tracks all relevant variables that might influence a borrower's loads.

(b) Formats. RUS does not require a specific format for the narrative, documentation, data, and other information in the load forecast, provided that all required information is included and available. All data must be in a tabular form that can be transferred electronically to RUS computer software applications. RUS will evaluate borrower load forecasts for readability, understanding, filing, and electronic access. If a borrower's load forecast is submitted in a format that is not readily usable by RUS or is incomplete, RUS will require the borrower to submit the load forecast in a format acceptable to RUS.

(c) Document retention. The borrower must retain its latest load forecasts and supporting documentation. Any load forecast work plan must be retained as part of the load forecast.

(d) Consultation with RUS. The borrower must designate and make appropriate staff and consultants available for consultation with RUS to facilitate RUS review of the load forecast when requested by RUS.

(e) Correlation and consistency with other RUS loan support documents. If a borrower relies on an approved load forecast or an update of an approved load forecast as loan support, the borrower must demonstrate that the approved load forecast and the other primary support documentation for the loan were reconciled. For example, both the load forecast and the financial forecast require input assumptions for wholesale power costs, distribution costs, other systems costs, average revenue per kWh, and inflation. Also, a borrower's engineering planning documents, such as the construction work plan, incorporate consumer and usage per consumer projections from the load forecast to develop system design criteria. The assumptions and data common to all the documents must be consistent.

(f) Coordination. A load forecast of a power supply borrower must consider the load forecasts of all its member systems.

[84 FR 32610, July 9, 2019]