Website:
www.puc.idaho.gov
Idaho Power
proposes new pricing option for customers
The Idaho Public Utilities
Commission is taking comments through March 14 on an Idaho Power Company plan
to offer 1,200 volunteer customers a pricing plan that may help them reduce
their bills. The “Time Variant Pricing”
plan would allow customers to shift their energy consumption to off-peak time
periods when energy is in less demand and thus less expensive for both the
utility and customers.
A pricing plan similar to this proposed
plan, called Time-of-Day, is now offered (under the company’s
Schedule 5 tariff) in the Emmett area. With the installation of automated meters
throughout Idaho Power’s service territory, that plan can now be expanded to
include more customers. Idaho Power
plans to further expand the pricing option beyond 1,200 customers in 2013.
During the non-summer months, customers
on the standard Schedule 1 residential tariff pay 6.83 cents per kWh for the
first 800 kWh of use, 7.58 cents for use between 801 kWh and 2,000 kWh and 8.46
cents for use of 2,001 kWh and more. Under
the Time Variant Pricing Plan, customers would pay 6.26 cents per kWh during
off peak hours and 8.22 cents during peak hours. Peak hours are 1 to 9 p.m. on weekdays. All
other hours, including all weekend hours, are off-peak.
During the summer months,
residential customers pay 7.4 cents for the first 800 kWh; 9 cents for
consumption between 801 and 2000 kWh and 10.8 cents for use above 2,000
kWh. Under the proposed Time Variant
Pricing, customers would pay 6.26 cents per kWh for off-peak use and 11.35
cents for on-peak use.
The company proposes to send up
to 60,000 invitation letters to customers in the Treasure Valley area (where
automated meters have been in place 12 months or longer) with the hope of
getting 1,200 participants. Idaho Power
plans to expand its offering 2013 once a new customer billing system is in
place.
Customers invited to participate
will have access to an online Energy Use Advising Tool that will calculate their
monthly and annual bills under the standard Schedule1 tariff the last 12 months. With the use of a calculator provided, the
company will help customers determine the impact on their bills if they use
energy the same as the previous year or if they can shift a percentage of their
use to off-peak hours.
The company also proposes to make
the tariff available to owners of electric vehicles throughout its southern
Idaho territory by providing educational materials about the pricing plan to
car dealerships. Under the plan,
electric car owners could charge their cars during off-peak hours which could
reduce their bills as well as reduce the negative impact of this new end-use
load on Idaho Power’s grid.
Idaho Power says Time Variant
Pricing, if approved, will offer customers a choice of pricing plans while
providing them better tools to manage their energy use
and provide the company an opportunity to further study the effects of pricing
options on customer use patterns.
When applied to a large number of
customers, shifting demand on Idaho Power’s system away from on-peak hours can
reduce power supply expense to the utility and delay or eliminate the need to
build new power plants, all of which reduces expense for customers, even those
who don’t directly participate in the program.
The company’s complete application
and other documents related to the case, is available on the commission’s Web
site at www.puc.idaho.gov. Click on
“File Room” and then on “Electric Cases” and scroll down to Case No.
IPC-E-12-05. Comments are accepted through
March 14 via e-mail by accessing the commission’s Website and clicking on
"Comments & Questions About a Case." Fill in the above case
number and enter your comments. Comments can also be mailed to P.O. Box 83720,
Boise, ID 83720-0074 or faxed to (208) 334-3762.
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