20141107Comment.pdf

Jean Jewell
From:John W [e-mail]
Sent:Thursday,November 06,2014 8:50 PM
To:Jean Jewell
Subject:workshop for GNR-U-14-01
Dear Jean Jewell,
I have polished up my comments for the record to better explain my thinking and reasoning.
Since the larger economic downturn in 2002 many people in Idaho still live paycheck to paycheck.These
people don’t always have access to an account manager or other ways to know their real time energy use.
They normally are good at budgeting each payday for how much money they have to spend on food,gas,etc...
Budgeting for electricity proves to be a problem for many people.
When buying gasoline or groceries.You pay for them before you use them,like just about everything else.This
encourages conservation because only so many funds are available.Getting a bill a week after using electricity
for a month is kind of like going to the grocery store and just buying whatever you wanted for the whole
month and then getting a bill about a week after the month is over for all you bought.That bill can be an
unexpected surprise or even a shock.
Considering our current economy as well as ways to keep electric rates low for all customers I would suggest
customers pre-pay for kwhs.I saw this while living in the Caribbean.Customers would buy kwhs at the grocery
store that were added to the balance that showed on their smart meters at home.This system work very well
and engaged the customer to monitor their energy use by reading their smart meter.When customers’
balances were running low,they had a choice to conserve to stretch out their remaining kwhs or purchase
more kwhs.This is much like a car running low on fuel,you take it easy on the gas pedal or don’t make trips
without a real need.
Besides keeping utility employees safer from not having to go to houses to shut off people’s electricity it will
save them huge amounts of money.I am thinking of the cost of billing software and support that won’t be
needed.No more bills will be need to be printed.There will no longer be any postage purchased to mail bills.
There will no longer be receivables or uncollected receivables.I assume many calls to customer service
departments are because of billing and most of those calls would go away.Pre-paid kwhs would be a much
more modern and efficient way of collecting money for electricity.These efficiency and cost saving for utility
companies will also help keep the cost of electricity low for all customers.
If and when a time of use billing is adopted in Idaho this system is still functional.For example:peak 15 cents
per kwh,mid-peak 10 cents per kwh,off-peak 5 cents per kwh.People would purchase mid-peak kwhs for 10
cents.When they use a peak kwh their balance is reduced by 1.5 kwhs.When they use off-peak kwh their
balance is reduced by .5 kwhs.It is very simple.The simplicity makes the system efficient and functional.
Thank you for your consideration,
John Weber
7855 W Hummel Dr
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