September 6, 2023 |
Photo – Rocky Mountain Power logo – Bigfoot99 file photo
Wyoming lawmakers are considering new legislation to fight back against rising electricity bills targeting state residents.
As the state’s largest utility company, Rocky Mountain Power, seeks what amounts to a 30% increase a month on the electric bills its customers receive each month, a legislative committee is considering an assortment of bills that would hem in the utility company.
Members of the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee are mulling draft bills they say are intended to address utility rate increases and the factors driving the hikes.
Possible legislation that could turn up next year includes a one-year moratorium on industrial solar and wind facilities. Another would shield Wyoming ratepayers from helping to pay for facilities that primarily serve customers outside the state that use power generated by Wyoming wind.
Driving the issue is Rocky Mountain Power’s push to build hundreds of miles of wind turbines across Wyoming that will serve its customers in the Pacific northwest, but not here.
RMP’s plan represents a double-whammy for the Cowboy State. If the company’s massive rate request is approved, consumers here will bear a higher monthly cost to heat their homes so RMP can provide wind energy to a state like Washington that has denied port access to Wyoming coal bound for the Asian rim. The pain doesn’t stop there. Wyoming rate payers will see big increases in their electric bill while also losing out on the tax benefits from royalty payments on coal have underwritten social costs in Wyoming for generations.
Rocky Mountain Power is proposing two rate increases. One is a permanent 21.6% increase. RMP argues that it will produce $140.3 million dollars to serve Wyoming customers. The other hike is a temporary 7.6% adjustment RMP says is needed to recover over half of $90 million dollars in losses it incurred because of extreme weather events. The smaller increase would sunset in July of 2024.
Both rate increases need the approval of the Wyoming Public Service Commission. If passed, the two rate increases would increase the average monthly bill to RMP customers by about $20 a month, or $250 a year.
The Public Service Commission will hold an evidentiary hearing on the general rate case beginning Oct. 25 in Cheyenne. That proceeding will continue over several days, according to the agency. The commission is scheduled to hold a similar hearing regarding the energy cost adjustment request on Dec. 19.
Governor Mark Gordon has sounded the alarm about the rate increase. The next public comment meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at Central Wyoming College in Riverton.
While many state residents will be hurt by the increase, industries also will be hurt. Wyoming’s largest industrial facilities, such as the trona mines in neighboring Sweetwater County, consume approximately 70% of the electricity that Rocky Mountain power provides to the state.
Natrona County Senator Charles Scott is writing several bills addressing the issue for next year’s session. “I think we’re going to have to possibly do some radical things here,” Scott said.
One possible bill coming from the Corporations Committee could prohibit charging Wyoming ratepayers for PacifiCorp facilities in the state — wind farms and interstate electric lines, for example — that primarily or entirely serve the utility’s out-of-state customers.
More bills are coming that would soften the blow to Wyoming consumers.
The Joint Corporations Committee‘s next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 26 and 27 in Cheyenne.
The next public comment meeting before the Wyoming Public Service Commission is scheduled for Central Wyoming College in Riverton on September 18th at 5:30 p.m.
