Some Idaho Power customers complain of steep rises in bills. Here’s what utility says
Boise resident Amy Nguyen broke down when she opened her Idaho Power bill. It jumped from $67 in May to $110 in June.
“Let’s just say I did not budget enough for this bill,” Nguyen wrote in a post on a Facebook group called Idaho Mutual Aid. Others complained there about high bills, too.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission approved an average increase of 4.23% for Idaho Power customers beginning June 1. The typical residential customer using 950 kilowatt-hours of energy would see their bill increase $4.01 per month, the company said.
The utility also received approval for an annual fixed cost increase, based on changes in energy use per customer during the previous year. That adds two cents per month to the average residential bill.
But the more likely reason for the bigger bills Nguyen and others received? Warmer weather.
“It’s not unusual for customers to see higher bills in the summer as usage goes up primarily due to air conditioner use for residential customers,” Idaho Power spokesperson Sven Berg wrote in an email. “That, along with agricultural irrigation pumps, drives peak use on Idaho Power’s system.”
Household electric consumption can vary widely depending on how much air conditioners, lights and other appliances are operated, he said.
“If, for example, someone who was working at an office last June spent this June (because of COVID-19) working from home, running the air conditioner and using lights and computer equipment most of the day, that person would likely experience an increased energy bill,” Berg said.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Idaho Power has temporarily halted service disconnections because of nonpayment and is waiving late fees. Customers who have trouble paying their bills are asked to call the company at 800-488-6151 to arrange for a payment plan.
The company also offers a budget-pay service where it averages the cost of 12 months of service, then charges the same fee every month. After a year, the charge is adjusted to reflect the average for the most recent 12 months of service.
Some posters on the Facebook thread wondered if older analog meters that must be read at the home by an Idaho Power worker don’t get read each month, so that some months the bill may reflect a usage estimate.
Idaho Power has only about 5,000 older meters in use, less than 1% of the total, Berg said. And those get read every month.
The newer digital meters don’t cause an increase, either, he said. They reflect actual usage, the same as the analog meters with the spinning dials.
Nguyen said in a social media exchange with a Statesman reporter that she barely turned on her air conditioner during the month and didn’t use any appliances that would have accounted for her bill’s spike.
“I just don’t see why it could increase that much, especially if we were home even less than usual,” Nguyen said.
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
