Monday, SEPTEMBER 15, 2025 |
A federal judge has ruled in favor of PacifiCorp and its subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power in a case that could tap the electric utility’s Wyoming customers for yet more money.
How much additional money rate-payers will be billed remains unclear. An appeal in the case is already under consideration.
The lawsuit, which PacifiCorp launched against the Wyoming Public Service Commission last year, reinforces a suspicion among state leaders that the utility giant is trying to shift too much of its rising costs to maintain a regional power system to its customers in Wyoming.
U.S. District Judge Kelly H. Rankin disagrees. The judge handed down a court order last week allowing the calculation and modeling tool that Rocky Mountain Power used in 2023 to determine the rate hike on customers.
As a result of the 2023 rate case, which spurred contentious public meetings, the utility’s Wyoming customers saw a 5.5% general rate hike increase in January 2024, in addition to a pair of temporary upward fuel cost adjustments.
PacifiCorp and its subsidiary, Rocky Mountain Power, sued state regulators for discounting expenses that the utility wants to pass onto customers.
Earlier this year, customers in Wyoming saw their utility bill increase another 10 percent because of another 85-million dollar rate increase.
The Wyoming Public Service Commission objects to the modeling tool that PacifiCorps uses to determine rates. Last week’s court order that the commission went too far in devaluing the utility company’s calculation.
The judge’s order may be appealed.
