Rich Civic Times
RANDOLPH, Utah. May
7, 2014. George Humbert of Rocky
Mountain Power, told the county commissioners the company has been bought by
Berkshsire Hathaway. The company has also
acquired other energy companies so they are growing. Over 25% of the energy is
renewable, water, wind or solar.
In Utah there are 822,000 customers and there are 2000
employees. They have 21,000 miles of line of which 89% is residential. The
upgrades increased the capacity of the Rich County area which also uses some of
the wind energy produced nearby. There
is a rate case pending for a 4% rate increase effective in September because
they have had millions in power plant improvements this year. They have been able to bring down some of
the costs by refinancing at better interest rates. Reliability is as good as possible, the usual
wind and lightning but sometimes odd things happen like a bear climbing a pole
or a raccoon. They state that frequency of outages is less than in 2007. On average, in the west, Rocky Mountain West
is the least expensive due to coal and water usage. Alternative energy is more expensive. If the plant in Kemmer, Wyoming goes to
natural gas it will be more expensive to run, but they are looking at solving the
environmental problems of coal fueled plants even though Utah coal is cleaner
than the coal used on the east coast.
Surveys are showing high customer satisfaction. Rocky Mountain Power gets a small budget,
$8900, to contribute to our area. They
have funded such things as the Raspberry day Rodeo, Senior Center, and Christmas
Lighting. In 2014 they donated another $10,000
for ball park lights in Randolph and the fishing pond in Garden City. They also have a grant foundation, which
gives grants to health, welfare,and education.
An energy efficiency program helps with community buildings with financial incentives for the county
to reduce electrical usage.
They have been reducing carbon emmissions. The real culprit is not industrial but cars
and wood burning stoves in Utah. They have hydro plants, geothermal plants,
wind power and the Blue Sky program which customers can donate funding for
alternative energies. A program for solar panels in Wellsville is
being built. They are going to spend
$165 million in plant emission improvements.
Customer generated power that goes back into the system is
reimbursed. However since the solar
power does not come at peak usage times it is sometimes not used but they have
costs. They would like a customer
service charge of $4.25 a month for those customers who do use the network.
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