September 1, 2023 |
Photo – Wind Turbines – Bigfoot99 file photo
Rocky Mountain Power’s proposed rate hike increase will have Wyoming power using paying around 30% more per month if approved later this year.
Households and businesses will feel the pinch as PacificCorp’s top brass, including billionaire Warren Buffett, reap the windfall.
That was the consensus of two dozen who spoke at a public comment hearing held by the Wyoming Public Service Commission last week in Casper.
The consensus was unanimous. Elected officials, business owners, retirees and ranchers all expressed the same opinion—Rocky Mountain Power is not seeking a fair rate increase but is looking to gouge Wyoming residents for its recent expansion into wind energy.
While RMP officials defended the fairness of their request for a big rate increase, citizens attending last week’s meeting said the company’s shift to wind energy at the expense of Wyoming coal was driving the big rate hike.
The consensus was that RMP’s shift to wind power and its associated costs will be a burden on residents and businesses. RMP’s push for wind power represents a double-whammy for the Cowboy State. Consumers here will bear a higher monthly cost to heat their homes so RMP can provide wind energy to customers on the Pacific coast. Meanwhile Wyoming will lose out on sales of coal for traditional electric-generating plants and the royalty payments that underwrite cost of many state services.
Representative Clark Smith of Rock Springs stated the obvious. “Rocky Mountain Power has been pulled by a radical left-wing agenda to invest in unreliable [renewable energy] generation,” the Sweetwater County Republican told the Public Utilities board members.
Company officials blamed the increase on the cost of fossil fuels, not on the cost of building the wind power infrastructure for customers on the Pacific coast.
Rocky Mountain Power is the largest regulated monopoly utility in the state serving about 150,000 customers.
The company said it needs to increase rates in the state by an average of 21.6% to cover an extra annual $140.2 million in expenses necessary to serve its Wyoming customers. Some will pay more.
Natrona County Commission Vice Chairman Dave North told the Public Service Board, “We’re going to lose a lot of businesses in the state when we start raising those costs.”
The Public Service Commission will announce a decision about the rate hike increase by the end of the year.
The next hearing regarding the rate case will be at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at Central Wyoming College in Riverton.
