The new year might bring hikes in the U’s electricity bill.
Rocky Mountain Power has approved an 8.6 percent average increase in Utah’s residential and industrial electricity rates. The increase still awaits further examination, which will take place between now and May 2009, when it will take effect.
RMP suggested the increase because energy use in Utah has been increasing over the last 20 years and the rise in energy usage now demands structural expansion, said Dave Eskelsen, a spokesman for the company.
“(RMP) needs to build new infrastructure as new and existing customers use more energy,” Eskelsen said. “Generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, all of it takes a good deal of material, like concrete, steel and wire. These costs push the cost of electricity upwards.”
Orfeo Kostrencich, assistant director of plant operations at the U, said energy demand is growing at the U, but according to RMP reports, the growth on campus is slow compared to the rest of Utah.
The company instituted a smaller 2.8 percent increase in Oct. 2007. The U’s rate changed from about 4.2 cents per kilowatt hour in Nov. 2007 to 4.6 cents in Nov. 2008.
The U leases three substations from RMP, making 10 different charges factor into the U’s total rate. However, at about 4.6 cents per kWH, the campus electricity still costs less than that of the average Salt Lake City household, which was 6.4 cents per kWH in 2008. The U’s electricity rate compares to the average rate of industrial electricity rates.
Based on the Nov. 2008 rate with an 8.6 percent increase, the U’s electricity might approach 5 cents per kWH, which is a high for rates that in 2006 and 2007 rested between 4.4 and 4.3 cents per kWH.
In 1997, RMP underwent a similar expansion. The company upgraded the neighborhood transmission wires to carry 92,000 more volts, which almost tripled the delivery capacity.
Eskelsen said energy usage is increasing because the average residence has more electrical appliances today, such as entertainment systems and multiple refrigerators, than it did 20 years ago. To help cut down on energy use, RMP started offering $30 for old refrigerators that gulp up energy.
“Many people today, when they purchase a new energy efficiency refrigerator, put the old one in the garage or the basement,” Eskelsen said. Since the start of the program, RMP has collected 80,000 old refrigerators.