CASPER, Wyoming — Dozens filled the Ramkota Ballroom Tuesday to meet with Rocky Mountain Power officials, many of whom flew in from Salt Lake City to voice their concerns about a proposed new rate increase.
The utility’s proposed 14.7 percent average rate increase, which would take effect next June, is currently before the Wyoming Public Service Commission. It could take up to 10 months for the commission to review final evidence and testimony from stakeholders, said Anthony Ornelas, director of the Office of Consumer Advocate.
His group was recently brought in, along with Wyoming Industrial Energy Consumers in their statutory role as intervening parties, and was given access to the evidence and documentation RMP uses to support its argument that the increase is necessary and merely reflects Wyoming’s 12-15% share of the six-state integrated system.
His office has only had the evidence for about three weeks.
“We question everything,” said Ornelas.
This may be the best news yet for private customers and their MPs in Parliament. They have spoken out and expressed their declared inability to cope with higher prices for practically everything.
The increase comes after a 5.5 percent increase in January that rose to 8.3 percent in July, an increase that would have been 29.2 percent had an error not been discovered in RMP’s wording, WyoFile reported last December.
At the meeting, company spokesman David Eskelsen explained the three main cost factors that the company cites. One is the cost of capital investments in transmission and generation. Another is the cost of raw materials such as steel and concrete used in building the infrastructure.
A power plant built in 2007 costs twice as much as a power plant of the same type built in 2017, Eskelsen told Oil City News.
Another factor is the exploding costs of liability insurance related to wildfires. According to Eskelsen, these have increased by 1,800 percent in the last few years alone.
Eskelsen said there is no doubt that temperatures have risen and humidity has fallen, leading to longer fire seasons and much more damage. According to the Associated Press, RMP’s parent company, PacificCorp, was found liable for damages caused by the 2020 Labor Day weekend wildfires that killed nine people and destroyed over 5,000 homes.
Eskelsen and Rocky Mountain Power President Dick Garlish said the company is lobbying for intervention at the state and federal levels to reduce or cap liability rates for utilities. They are also looking into using additional technology to isolate fuses and circuits, although the abundance of combustible fuels is generally outside their jurisdiction.
The documentation underlying RMP’s calculations is difficult for laypeople to understand, and those who attend RMP’s open day have difficulty refuting their arguments.
“This is not a public forum. They’re here to give you their speech,” said Bill Allemand, a representative of Natrona County’s 58th District. He and fellow Natrona County representative Tony Locke attended the last two open houses and recently secured their party’s nomination for re-election.
“They are extremely sophisticated in everything they do,” Allemand told Oil City News. “The people who walk through the door here now just know they are suffering.”
Allemand said he and others believe Wyoming must fully exploit its coal and other natural resources to be effectively self-sufficient.
“We’re expected to produce the energy and then transport the energy out of the state,” Allemand said, referring to transmission projects in Wyoming that ultimately serve all six PacifiCorp states. “It’s a six-pack unit and I want to split that up.”
According to Eskelsen, RMP has long invested in a diversified energy portfolio because of the favorable regulatory environment for wind and solar power and the flexibility of multiple fuel sources. Coal can be used as needed, while wind and solar have no fuel costs, Eskelsen said.
“I would much rather look at a coal mine or an oil well, because there are not many of those; the area is very small,” Allemand said.
