• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

WyoFile

Indepth News about Wyoming People, Places & Policy. Wyoming news.

  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19
  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19

Utility: Rising price of coal drives rate increase

January 5, 2011 by Dustin Bleizeffer Leave a Comment

Tweet
Share
Pin
Email
0 Shares
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

When it comes to rising utility rates, many Wyomingites bristle at the thought of wind turbines in Wyoming serving California’s growing appetite for renewable energy.

Why should Wyoming rate payers pay for California’s expensive renewable energy?

In Rocky Mountain Power’s current rate increase request of 17.3 percent for Wyoming customers, utility officials say the rising cost of coal is a bigger factor.

“One of the single biggest factors in our Wyoming pricing request is related to coal,” said Jeff Hymas, spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power, Wyoming’s largest regulated utility. “We have expiring contracts for coal used at our power plants, and expiring contracts for power we have to purchase.”

The average spot price for coal has risen in recent years, which means contracts negotiated today are influenced by today’s higher pricing.

The rate increase does include costs for Rocky Mountain Power’s new Dunlap I wind farm in Wyoming. But, Hymas said, Wyoming customers only pay for what they use. Wyoming’s percentage of the utility’s electric generation, transmission and other relevant costs is 16 percent compared to 2 percent for the company’s California customers.

“Another reason for the Wyoming rate increase request are new emissions controls required because of more stringent environmental policies. Those are very expensive,” said Hymas.

The utility spent about $844 million on environmental retrofit projects throughout its six-state service territory from 2005 to 2009, and it expected to spend about $321 million more in 2010 alone. Those upgrades, by the way, employed hundreds — perhaps thousands — of American workers.

However, Wyomingites are correct to scrutinize any rate request by a regulated utility. In 2009, Rocky Mountain Power asked for a 13.7 percent rate increase (an additional $71 million annually for Wyoming customers), but the Wyoming Public Utility Commission scrutinized the request and cut the rate hike to $35 million. A big part of the cut came from Rocky Mountain Power agreeing to a lower rate of return on investments in new facilities.

No matter what the Wyoming Public Service Commission does to the current rate request, it’s certain the utility will come back for more in years to come. Electrical demand increases, and old systems need to be updated. Hymas said it doesn’t matter if it’s wind, solar, coal or geothermal, any new electrical generation facility will cost more because of the higher cost of steel and other commodities.

“Any new electric generating facility built today is going to have significantly higher costs than our facilities built decades ago, no matter what resource you’re using,” said Hymas.

Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or [email protected]


Popular Articles:


Cheney’s ‘vote of conscience’ deserves respect


Lawmakers derail trapping regulations against Wyo’s best interest


Oil and gas industry doesn’t need another handout


Filed Under: Columns/Blogs, Energy Report, Power to the People

Dustin Bleizeffer

About Dustin Bleizeffer

Dustin Bleizeffer has worked as a coal miner, an oilfield mechanic, and for 20 years as a statewide reporter and editor primarily covering the energy industry in Wyoming. Most recently he was Communications Director at the Wyoming Outdoor Council, a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford, and WyoFile editor-in-chief. He lives in Casper. You can reach him at (307) 267-3327, [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @DBleizeffer.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to join the discussion? Fantastic, here are the ground rules:
- Identify yourself with full name and city. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish and expects commenters to do the same.
- No personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats. Keep it clean, civil and on topic.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Tweets by @WyoFile

Search WyoFile

Become an Underwriter
Sign Up for Free Weekly Newsletters

Recent Comments

  • John Warnock on A modest proposal for solving Wyoming’s budget woes
  • Andrea Morgan on 400 seconds of tolling for 400,000 dead
  • bruce vojtecky on Adverse solar bill advances after heated subsidies debate
  • Lynn Carlson on A modest proposal for solving Wyoming’s budget woes
  • Robert Nickens on The unsupportable cost of Wyoming’s tax giveaways

Footer

Recent Posts By Date

January 2021
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Dec    

From The Archives

  • About Us
  • People
  • Careers
  • Freelancing
  • Underwriting
  • How to Republish
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2021 by WyoFile