20250731Comment_1.pdf

The following comment was submitted via PUCWeb:
Name: Nathan Morgan
Submission Time: Jul 31 2025 10:28AM
Email: nathanmrg6(a)gmail.com
Telephone: [phone]
Address: 2123 East Bergeson
Boise, ID 83706
Name of Utility Company: Idaho Power
Case ID: IPC-E-25-15
Comment: "Hello, I am contacting in regards to IPC-E-25-15. As a civil engineer in
hydropower and electrical industry for 10 years in Wyoming,Washington and the Pacific
Northwest, I see that this rate change to small net exporters (i.e. solar) as a way to kill small
user competition and energy diversity and centralize generation solely to Idaho Power. For a
very long time the Federal power generation on the Columbia has subsidized the energy
market for the PNW, (2-5 cents per KWH) and Idaho has successfully used this to their
advantage. As the increase population in the state since 2016 has drastically risen, rather
than create more small generation, more diversity, more generation users, Idaho Power and
its attorney have been attacking small generation not own and operated by Idaho Power.
Case in point, Littlewood Dam a small generation facility has felt numerous rate changes
that make its power plant undesirable in the market that Idaho Power is proposing. Why
does this affect solar generation? Because to say that power generated at one home and
sent to your neighbor is basically worthless at 1 cents or less per KWH is phony economical
math no matter how much you argue transmission lines or substations. Not only is Idaho
Power killing a solar industry in its attack of less than 2% of its base, but its saddling
increased industrial and commercial demand onto both residential and individual power
producers. Why should a solar customer who generates less than 1500 KWH a year be
subjected to Idaho power transmission cost if a giant data center or micron facility is being
built and consuming 5-6 times the entire residential area energy demand?This and the 17-
20 dollar increase per month on users in case IPC-E-25-16 is comical as it attempts to go
after individuals rather than the bulk users. My biggest issue with this rate change is the
affect it has on non-solar operation, natural gas, small hydro, biomass, geothermal, wind,
and other small customer generation. This net rate change affects non-solar producers just
as much even though the economic math is set of solar generation assumptions. Idaho
Power is still selling that excess power at 5-10 times to your next-door neighbor. Please
review the case and support small energy production projects of individual users in Idaho
without killing an entire job industry. Please support truly independent research on the rate
case and not saying small customer Solar generation is penniless per KWH. Thank you,"
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