Idaho PUC requests public comments on proposed PacifiCorp protocol

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) announced on Friday it will accept public comments through May 23 regarding an application from PacifiCorp to update its “Multi-State Protocol” to recover costs the company claims to have lost.

PacifiCorp, doing business as Rocky Mountain Power in eastern Idaho, filed the request to better manage utility costs across each of the six states in which it supplies energy. Since the company was established, as a merger between Pacific Power and Light and Utah Power & Light in 1989, it has claimed to have trouble recovering costs of investments and additions.

PacifiCorp filed a trans-state protocol in 2002 that was adopted in 2005 and again in 2010. The current agreement expires on December 31. The company requested a fixed-dollar equalization adjustment, totaling $9.1 million from all states, saying that it will not impact rates, although PacifiCorp may file a request to increase rates in Idaho beginning in 2018.

PacifiCorp said that the new agreement will better determine how to manage costs unique for each state, including regulated programs required in one state but not in another. The protocol seeks to address the costs associated with such programs without increasing prices for consumers who do not benefit from the programs, while ensuring consumers with service updates do not receive unwarranted subsidies.