|
|
Enron Mail |
Utility's incentive program gets OK
Some East Idahoans will see rewards for reducing power use The Associated Press Following the lead of their counterparts in Oregon, Idaho regulators on Friday approved a revised incentive program to convince customers of Utah Power & Light Co. to scale back electricity usage. The Public Utilities Commission approved a conservation program that rewards customers reducing their monthly demand by 10 percent from a year ago by reducing their bills by 10 percent. PacifiCorp, which serves about 56,000 eastern Idaho customers through Utah Power & Light, had originally proposed rewarding only customers who cut demand by 20 percent with a 20 percent reduction in bills. Significant curtailment in demand will reduce the amount of power the company has to buy at exorbitant prices on the wholesale market. But the commission, reinforced by environmental and consumer interests, questioned whether any customers would be able to reach that level of energy savings in a region where few have air conditioners. It asked the utility for more information to justify that plan, and PacifiCorp came back with the lower threshold for triggering the bill reductions. "Conservation gained through this program will benefit both the company and its residential customers by reducing the company's reliance on power purchases from the wholesale market," the commission said. But the three members also said they were "still concerned that most customers will find it difficult to achieve the 10 percent reduction." Last month, the Oregon Public Utility Commission raised the same questions about the 20 percent threshold for a bill reduction and eventually ordered PacifiCorp to provide a 10 percent threshold as well. The action followed a report that customers of PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric, Oregon's two largest utilities, trimmed electricity use by less than 4 percent during the first five months of this year despite campaigns urging conservation.
|