PSC to reconsider rate hike for Rocky Mountain Power

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Rocky Mountain Power will get another chance to argue for a rate increase. State regulators changed their minds after the power company backed off a threat.

The Public Service Commission says it will reconsider the request to raise rates by $74 million. In mid-August the commission approved half of that. The company received a 2.7 percent rate increase but had asked for a 5.6 percent hike.

Rocky Mountain Power said that increase was insufficient to meet the utility's needs to serve its growing customer base. The utility threatened to cut back its service to customers. It withdrew the threat last week.

State leaders, including the governor, met with the power company before it backed off the threat. The Public Service Commission says state officials have not pressured it to reconsider the request to increase rates.

Commission spokeswoman Julie Orchard says the power company filed an appeal with various new items of information, including some recoverable costs such as property tax adjustments, that warranted the reconsideration.

Orchard says the PSC will decide soon. "We consider making the decision sooner rather than later to be in the interest of the public and the utility company," she says.

E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com