20060705press release.htm

./063006_PACratesettle_files/filelist.xml IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
9.35 pt 2 IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION Case No. PAC-E-06-04, PAC-E-06-08, PAC-E-06-09 June 30, 2006 Contact: Gene Fadness [phone]

Website:
http://www.puc.idaho.gov/www.puc.idaho.gov

Deadline is July 14 for PacifiCorp rate settlement intervenors

Interested parties have until July 14 to intervene in PacifiCorp’s request that the Idaho Public Utilities Commission approve a rate settlement the company has reached with its irrigation customers and two of its large contract customers.

The settlement, if approved, would prevent the need for PacifiCorp, which does business in eastern Idaho as Rocky Mountain Power, from having to file a rate case with the commission. The settlement eliminates the need for an increase for the majority of the company’s 64,000 customers in Idaho.

The settlement would allow the company to collect $8.25 million in additional annual revenue.

Irrigators would pay 5.1 percent more beginning Jan. 1, 2007, increasing revenue by $1.7 million. If irrigators volunteer to participate in the company’s Irrigation Load Control Credit Rider Program, they will receive a refund after the end of the 2007 irrigation season. Counting the refund, the net average increase to irrigators would be 3.7 percent if the settlement were approved.

Rates for Monsanto, PacifiCorp’s largest customer in its six-state area, would increase by 16.5 percent, also by Jan. 1, raising $6.8 million. Monsanto operates an elemental phosphorous plant near Soda Springs in southeastern Idaho. Rates for Nu-West, another contract customer, would increase 4 percent effective Sept. 1, increasing annual revenue by $150,000. Nu-West produces phosphate fertilizer at facilities also near Soda Springs.

The Idaho Irrigation Pumpers Association and parties representing Monsanto and Nu-West have all agreed to the rate increases. PacifiCorp maintains that the increases are supported by studies that show how much it costs the company to serve irrigators, Monsanto and Nu-West.

PacifiCorp has also indicated that it will follow through on its commitment to the Community Action Partnership of Idaho (CAPAI) to initiate a proceeding before the commission to investigate significantly increasing its contribution to low-income weatherization programs. CAPAI is a non-profit corporation consisting of six community action agencies that fight the causes and conditions of poverty.

Parties seeking to intervene in any or all of the three cases involving irrigation customers, Monsanto or Nu-West, for the purpose of presenting evidence, cross-examining witnesses or participating in settlement or negotiation conferences must file a petition to intervene with the commission by no later than July 14. There will be an opportunity provided later for general public comment.