By Kiki Tidwell
Blaine County Commissioner Candidate
www.tidwellcommissionercampaign.com
twitter: @kikitidwell
I was chatting with a longtime Idahoan and he was upset about a monthly charge on his power bill, a charge that shows up on our bills as Energy Efficiency Services at $5.45 each month, that he thought went to buying power from wind farms. Let me assure you that it does not!
Idaho is a state that decided some time ago that it didn’t make sense to compensate the power companies only for power they made and sold to Idahoans; there wouldn’t be any reason then for the power companies to do nothing else than keep building new $350 million power plants to keep up with increasing demand. Sometimes a power plant would need to be built only to accommodate peak demand for a couple of hot July days per year. Ratepayers would then be on the hook to pay for these new plants and rates would keep increasing. Instead, our power companies are allowed to charge for energy efficiency measures which, even though we pay this monthly charge, it actually saves us ratepayers all much more money. Idaho Power customers saved enough energy to power 16,000 homes in 2018. (www.tinyurl.com/tws-ipsave)
Did you know that actually solar-generated electricity is the lowest levelized cost (over time, including fuel cost) source of power today? This report shows that even without subsidies, renewables are the lowest cost. (www.tinyurl.com/tws-irena)
Idaho Power just signed a contract in March for solar power from a plant south of Twin Falls for a record low price of 2.175 cents per kwh (www.tinyurl.com/tws-pv), which helps to replace coal-fired power from the Nevada Valmy plant. “The Company estimates its requests would save customers about $17.2 million when compared to the costs they would pay if the Company were to operate both [Valmy] units through 2025 under current agreements.” (tinyurl.com/tws-valmy)
You can get a free energy-efficiency kit, including light bulbs, from Idaho Power by requesting it from their website or calling them. Also, anybody who has an electric heated manufactured house is eligible for a visit by contractors who can seal ducts, change furnace filters and install other energy-efficiency measures. Idaho Power’s local representative, Rhonda Bruce, can help with these programs (email: rbruce@idpow.com).
Bottom line: Replacing coal-fired power and paying for energy efficiency in Idaho saves us all $$$$!