Lower than normal snowpack will hit power customers in pocketbook unless they conserve

Idaho’s snowpack melted away in February and with one month to go before the irrigation season begins, time for piling up more snow is running out.

It didn’t help that Monday’s temperatures rose into the 70s at lower elevations, setting a record for the date.

That means Idaho Power customers could pay more for electricity this year because the company will generate less hydroelectric power and be forced to buy more expensive power from other sources. Idaho has had its share of low flow years since the 1980s, and scientists are watching to see whether its going to continue.

Unless we experience an extra-dry spring, experts expect Idaho’s reservoirs to fill, which means farmers will have enough water for corn potatoes, sugar beets and other Idaho crops. Rafters and kayakers also will find ample water in popular rivers like the Payette and Bruneau, though Salmon River flows may be lower at the end of the summer.

“At this point in the season the probability is we are going to end up with another below normal year,” said Philip Morrisey, a water data specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The snowpack for the Snake River Basin above Brownlee Reservoir is at 80 percent of normal, but some individual basins are even lower. The Boise River watershed is at 73 percent of normal. The Payette River Basin is at 71 percent and the Weiser River Basin at 70 percent.

The Boise and Payette both have reservoirs, which all have carried over water from last season. Bureau of Reclamation officials expect the reservoirs to fill but it’s going to be close,” for Lucky Peak, Arrowrock and Anderson Ranch, said Brian Sauer, a bureau engineer.

“It’s going to be dependent on spring rains,” he said.

This season isn’t a serious problem for farmers or even people who water their lawns with Boise River water. Next season is the one to worry about.

“If we don’t have another good winter next year we’ll see a return to the drought conditions of the early 2000s,” said Steve Burrell, an Idaho Department of Water Resources hydrologist.

In a normal water year Idaho Power generates 55 to 60 percent of its electricity for customers across southern Idaho and eastern Oregon with hydroelectric turbines on its Snake River dams. But normal years or good years have been rare during the last decade.

The average flow on the Snake River at Brownlee Dam in Hells Canyon was 6.3 million acre-feet annually from 1971 to 2000. This year the National Weather Service’s River Forecast System early bird forecast predicts only 3.3 million acre feet will flow through the system this year.

To get back to the average, the parts of Idaho, and Wyoming, Nevada and Oregon that fall within the Snake watershed “would have to have a pretty good storm or two,” this month to get the flows back to average,” said Jon Bowling, an Idaho Power water management engineer.

Last year 4.4 million acre feet flowed down the Snake River and through Idaho Power’s dams.

Each April, Idaho Power Co. files a power cost adjustment request with the Public Utilities Commission that either increases or decreases its customers rates depending on how much hydropower was generated and how much fuel prices were.

But the Public Utilities Commission approved a new three-tiered rate structure that allows customers to reduce their power bill by reducing how much power they use.

If you use only 800 kwh a month you will pay even less. If you use more than 2,000 kwh per month you will pay more.

Idaho Power customers who allow their air conditioner to be turned off briefly during peak use periods also can get a credit. And the utility is promoting a series of energy-efficiency measures like using compact fluorescent light bulbs, weather-stripping and increased insulation.

Idaho Power officials have told customers the era of low cost power is gone because the region’s growth has outgrown the hydroelectric capacity. But the capacity itself is dropping climate scientists say.

The high average flows are due in part to the years prior to 1977 included in the 30 year average. Since 1980s the average is closer to this year’s flows, Bowling said.

But University of Washington climate scientist Philip Mote said it is too early to determine whether the droughts of the last 25 years are due to climate change. The earlier runoff already observed by scientists, however, means the flows are harder to capture in reservoirs.

Idaho Department of Water Resources scientists are worried the earlier runoff will reduce water availability during the summer as well as increasing hydropower production at the time of year when it is least valuable, in the spring.

Rocky Barker: 377-6484