Idaho Power wants to increase rates by more than 7% next year. But first it must get approval from the government agency that oversees utilities.
Would you like to weigh in? You get a chance.
Idaho Power filed in late May to increase overall electricity rates by 7.31%, providing an annual revenue increase of $99.29 million. If the request is approved as is, the average residential customer, who uses about 950 kilowatt hours per month, would see their monthly bill increase by $7.48, the filing said.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission may approve, deny or modify the application.
The latest filing comes before the PUC less than a year after Idaho Power won approval in a separate case to increase overall rates by 4.25%, yielding a $54.7 million increase in revenue. It had initially asked for 8.61% or $111 million.
Idaho Power argued in that case that it needed the increased revenue to recoup the money it spent on infrastructure expansions over the past decade. The Boise company said it invested more than $3 billion in the electric grid while growing its customer base by 23%. Before last year, the utility had not requested an across-the-board rate increase since 2011.
This time, the company said the rate hike “focuses on recovering costs related to infrastructure investments and labor costs that were not included for collection in the company’s last rate filing, but which will benefit customers” at the end of this year.
“Idaho Power is sensitive to the impact rate increases have on customers and believes this limited case will minimize customer impact compared to a broader blanket rate review,” the company said in a news release.
The company previously announced that it plans to invest nearly $1 billion in the network by 2024 and an average of nearly $800 million annually over the next five years to maintain the network and meet growing customer demand.
Several stakeholders have filed petitions to intervene in the case, including the City of Boise, Micron, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Idaho Conservation League, the Industrial Customers of Idaho Power and the Idaho Irrigation Pumpers Association.
In Micron’s filing, the chipmaker noted that it is Idaho Power’s largest customer.
More than a dozen public comments have also been filed, mostly from residential customers asking the PUC to reject Idaho Power’s proposed rate increase.
“My husband and I are now retired and on fixed incomes,” wrote one customer in Hailey. “We have received rate increases over the years and have never failed to pay our monthly bill for Idaho Power. This rate increase will place an unnecessary burden on us.”
