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.