CASPER – Dozens of Rocky Mountain Power customers streamed into the Ramkota Hotel ballroom Tuesday afternoon, asking questions about the reasons for the increase in their electric bills and why the monopoly utility is demanding another price increase.
What they found, however, was an “open house”-style scrum, with company representatives with varying expertise standing in groups with customers, trying to explain the complicated nature of electricity supply, rate regulation and the myriad driving forces behind the company’s series of rate increases.
Brenda Johnson and her friend tried to contact company representatives, but amidst all the chaos, they were unable to reach a Rocky Mountain Power representative face-to-face.
“We couldn’t talk to anyone because everyone was busy,” Johnson told WyoFile. Later, in the parking lot, Johnson joked, “At least I got a cookie.”
Johnson and Rocky Mountain Power’s other 144,000 customers in Wyoming saw their monthly electric bills rise 5.5 percent in January and another 9.3 percent in July. In August, the company filed another rate increase, this time of 14.7 percent. State regulators acknowledge the increases are historic, while customers say they are being “ripped off” for a vital service over which they have little control.
“We are on a fixed income,” said Charles Mueller, a 79-year-old businessman from Casper, adding that his electric bills continue to skyrocket while the amount of electricity he uses has not changed in years.
Mueller said it doesn’t make sense in a state that exports most of the electricity generated within its borders and where residential electricity use is small compared to industrial demand. Many others, including Johnson, suspect that — if Rocky Mountain Power’s rising cost demands are justified — the rising operating costs are caused by the utility’s shift away from coal and natural gas toward more wind and solar power.
“We haven’t had these huge rate increases — it used to be one and a half percent,” Republican Rep. Bill Allemand (D-Midwest) told Rocky Mountain Power President Dick Garlish, surrounded by customers and other company officials. “Back then, we were shoveling coal into power plants and piped gas into power plants. Now we’re turning on wind turbines and looking at solar farms, and now our energy supply is exploding.”
Company officials continue to claim that Rocky Mountain Power’s increasing use of wind and solar energy is preventing even greater rate increases.
Rising costs and liabilities
Rocky Mountain Power, Wyoming’s largest electricity provider, is part of billionaire Warren Buffet’s PacifiCorp, which operates in six western states. In addition to Wyoming, the companies are also demanding significant rate increases in Oregon, Utah and Idaho.
“We have a fixed income.”
Charles Mueller, 79-year-old resident of Casper
Rocky Mountain Power has requested a “fuel cost adjustment” for the past two years because it paid more than it planned for coal, natural gas and electricity – all subject to volatile market fluctuations. That explains the one-time “adjustment” of 9.3%, or $86.4 million, that was temporarily added to customers’ bills in July. The rate may change when the Wyoming Public Service Commission reviews the evidence later this year.
According to the company, the request for a 14.7% increase – which would cost Wyoming electricity customers an additional $123.5 million per year – is due to investments in new renewable energy facilities, portions of two major new interstate power transmission lines and a growing wildfire liability crisis. Power lines and other electrical equipment have sparked several wildfires in the U.S., leading to massive lawsuits for property damage and deaths.
PacifiCorp could end up having to pay billions of dollars in various settlements for its liability for the 2020 Oregon wildfires. Garlish has testified in Wyoming and Utah that the company’s requests for rate increases in those states do not include any potential payouts or settlements in the case. However, insurance companies are raising liability insurance premiums across the utility industry amid hotter, drier conditions across the West due to human-caused climate change. Rocky Mountain Power’s insurance costs have increased 1,888% over the past five years, according to the company, and those costs may be passed on to ratepayers.
“The insurance companies just said, ‘The utility business and the co-op business are inherently riskier than they used to be,'” Garlish said. “So when it comes to insurance, we’re raising premiums, we’re lowering coverage, and we’re doing that for everybody.”
Several states, including Wyoming, are considering limiting utility liability for wildfire damage claims. Without such limits, industry officials say, any utility could be bankrupted and the entire rural economy could be thrown into chaos. The Wyoming Legislature’s Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee will consider some measures in October to either limit wildfire damage claims or establish a “wildfire mitigation account,” or both.
Increasing frustration
Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain Power customers in Wyoming say they can’t afford ever-rising electric bills on top of the rising cost of living. Several customers complained Tuesday that the electric utilities generally operate behind an opaque cloak of bureaucracy that is difficult to understand and hard to trust.
Rep. Allemand told Garlish he appreciates the important service the utility provides in Wyoming and for being available to answer questions. But, he added, Tuesday’s efforts were unsuccessful.
“You guys are getting a lot of stigma for holding a meeting like this instead of holding a comment meeting where you talk, take comments and answer questions,” Allemand told Garlish. “That’s what people really want.”
Rocky Mountain Power will host another customer meeting in Rock Springs on Thursday, from 2 to 4 p.m. for industrial customers and from 4 to 7 p.m. for residential and commercial customers. The meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn, 1675 Sunset Drive.
The Wyoming Public Service Commission, which will review the company’s rate increase proposals, may schedule its own public meeting on the matter, the agency said.
