20240903Comment_1.pdf

The following comment was submitted via PUCWeb:

Name: Bethany Gotts
Submission Time: Sep 2 2024 4:20PM
Email: [e-mail]
Telephone: [phone]
Address: 48803 State Highway 78
Mountain Home , ID 83647

Name of Utility Company: Idaho Power

Case ID: IPC-E-24-07

Comment: "This case to yet again raise rates was a surprise to me as we just had a rate increase. As
a young beginning farmer who is now farming the land my grandfather and father before me farmed,
it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with prices in every sector of farming. On my small
farm of less than 500 acres, it is becoming more and more difficult to bring in enough income to just
maintain my farm, much less make needed improvements. I understand that Idaho Power would
like to make improvements to their fleets, infrastructure etc, and believe me, I want them to have
good people and equipment, but, I believe the PUC could send them back to the drawing board
where they could figure out how their shareholders could go without dividends, their employees
could go without bonuses (I get to go without bonuses), and they could potentially make do with a
few things they have on hand rather than increasing my over all irrigation bill by 9.5%.
Also, a few things to note:
If you are not farmers and wanted to know what the price of wheat is right now t's about the same as
it was in 1974. $4.86 a bushel. A loaf of bread in 1974 cost $.25 A bushel of wheat yields 42 one-
and-a-half pound commercial loaves of white bread OR about 90 one-pound loaves of whole wheat
bread. A bushel of wheat makes about 42 pounds of pasta or 210 servings of spaghetti. There is
approximately 16 ounces of flour in a one-and-a-half pound loaf of bread.
You can buy a loaf of bread for $7 today. $294 for 42 loaves of bread if they cost $7. The farmer gets
$4.86 minus the hauling. The one who grows the wheat. The one who is a steward of the ground the
wheat grows in. The one who hires people to help him cut his crop. The one who spends hours on
the combine and tractors to feed the world. The one who makes payments on his equipment his
whole life, and he makes $4.86 cents per bushel. We are feeding the world and we can't afford to
buy the bread back to make our own sandwich. Things are not right in the economy right now and
the PUC does not need to allow Idaho Power to make it even worse. Yes, Idaho Power needs to
make improvements, but yes, there can be other ways of doing that.
I would like to add that the suicide rate for farmers is quite high when things are this bad - and a rate
increase does not help.

Thank you. "