Idaho Power expects to raise home electricity rates. See how much more you may pay

Idaho Power customers can expect their electric bills to increase next year. By exactly how much, though, has not yet been finalized.

The utility company serving much of southern Idaho applied in June to raise its overall base rates by 8.61%, for a annual revenue increase of $111 million. For residential customers, that would mean a 10.8% rate hike, or an average monthly increase of $11.61.

But Idaho Power and the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, the agency tasked with rejecting, approving or modifying the request, have been in talks with other stakeholders to reach a settlement that would slash those numbers by more than half. If the proposed settlement is approved, the average residential customer using 950 kilowatt hours per month would see their monthly bill increase by about $4.44, to $111.69 a month.

And the company would be granted an overall revenue increase of $54.7 million a year, instead of the $111 million it initially requested. Three settlement conferences have taken place since mid-September.

Under the settlement, the fixed service charge for residential customers would increase from $5 to $10 in 2024 and from $10 to $15 in 2025, according to a news release from the commission. The new rates and charges would take effect in January.

“We are sensitive to the impacts rate increases have on our customers, and our company works hard to keep our expenses low and our prices well below the national average,” Idaho Power President and CEO Lisa Grow said in a prior news release. “This case is largely focused on the infrastructure additions that have been necessary to reliably serve our growing customer base.”

Idaho Power has said it invested more than $3 billion in the grid over the past decade. Meanwhile, its customer base grew by 23%.

The base rate hikes proposed by Idaho Power are separate from the variable charges reflected on a customer’s bill. Each spring, the company files separate applications to account for annual fluctuations in power-supply purchased and fixed costs, and those adjustments provide no financial return to the utility or its shareholders, the company has said.

An Idaho Power spokeperson told the Idaho Statesman that he had no average costs to provide for the annual adjustments, since they fluctuate greatly from year to year.

The company last filed a general rate case in 2011.

In that case, the company requested an increase of 9.9%, or $83 million, but the commission in 2012 approved a much lower a rate hike of 4.07%, or $34 million, spokesperson Jordan Rodriguez previously told the Statesman by phone.

For the latest proposal, the commission has scheduled two hearings for Idaho Power customers and other members of the public to share their thoughts.

The hearing in Boise is set for 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28, at the commission’s office at 11331 W. Chinden Blvd., Building 8, Suite 201-A. In-person attendance at the hearing is required to submit testimony, however written comments on the proposal are being accepted until Nov. 28.

Another hearing in Twin Falls is scheduled the day before at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27, at the American Legion Post 7 Building at 447 Seastrom St.

Written comments on the base rate case can be filed on the commission’s website or mailed to P.O. Box 83720, Boise, Idaho, 83720-0074. The case number is IPC-E-23-11.

Idaho Power is the largest electric utility company in the state.

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