![]() ![]() "We're simply saying that we won't be seeking any kind of rate increase until 2021," he said. Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Spencer Hall said the company is trying to contain the costs it can control for the benefit of its customers. “In addition to these low prices, Rocky Mountain Power delivers an increasingly cleaner energy mix with new wind and solar farms coming online at historically low prices - significantly cheaper than rooftop solar.” ![]() 1 goal is to keep your energy reliable and affordable,” said Cindy Crane, Rocky Mountain Power president and CEO. The company provides electric service to more than 1.8 million customers in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. "It is not a meaningful pledge," Beck said. She added that there are a numerous "complicated moving parts" that have to be taken into consideration regarding the validity of the utility's pledge that make the gesture questionable. She some of the company's plans for new electricity sources would lower rates in the long term, but rates would probably climb first before retreating in the years to come. Among the elements she said could increase during the three-year period are costs associated with new wind power generation and electricity transmission. "So it does feel disingenuous that they would, at the same time, make a pledge that the base rates will not go up," she said. She said there are many rate mechanisms outside of base rates that can and do change, including some proposals the utility has under consideration that will "almost certainly raise some of those other rate components."īeck mentioned infrastructure and renewable energy projects the company is currently working to develop that could require some fee-based costs that customers would likely have to pay at least some portion of. ![]() "They're parsing their words," Beck said. While the company said the pledge offers customers a period of relative long-term rate stability, the state's consumer watchdog said the situation is not quite that simple.Įven though base power rates will remain the same for the foreseeable future, there are other costs that could very likely increase over that same period, said Michele Beck, director of the state Office of Consumer Services. Rocky Mountain Power Tuesday announced its "pledge to all Utah customers that base rates will not go up at any time before the year 2021." In a statement, the utility said the move was motivated in part to maintain affordable rates for customers who pay nearly 20 percent less than the national average for its electricity. SALT LAKE CITY - The state's top consumer advocate had strong criticism for Utah's largest electricity utility following the company's issuance of a pledge to hold rates steady for the next three years. ![]()
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