During the week of May 9-13, the RCA will be conducting a hearing in the City Assembly Chambers in Juneau from 9 a.m.to 5 p.m. This is an evidentiary hearing for the purpose of examining questions that Juneau People’s Power Project have posed along with evidence provided by RAPA.
JPPP wants to know why AEL&P wants a 24 percent increase; are they entitled to it?
Lake Dorothy is built, so they want to pay for it; why did the actual cost far exceed the initial estimate?
They say the dam is a relatively small percentage of their requested rate increase; how do they account for the rest?
The Attorney General’s office (RAPA) recently conducted a forensic audit of AEL&P’s books, they recommend a 3.7 percent rate increase.
We’re encouraging all our neighbors to keep an eye on this issue. We know that a drastic rate increase with electricity will cause prices to go up almost everywhere in Juneau.
We also invite everyone to be there, the hearing is open to the public.
Our physical presence at the hearing will demonstrate our commitment to fair rates for the people of CBJ.
JPPP has been working to see that this issue doesn’t get swept under the rug.
Vincent Hayden
Juneau People’s Power Project
Comments (19)
Add commentLocal Business
AEL&P, Alaska Airlines and GCI, the three local businesses you almost have to deal with at one point or another. The three local businesses which will rape your pocketbook and leave your backside sore with every encounter.
These three businesses are three reasons why monopolies should not exist! I would love to see all three have to deal with competition!
Yet
I'm working at this as objectively as possible, wanting to see all the information to see what's what. I don't use GCI anymore, nor do I fly that often - but electricity I use for things such as my refrigerator and light, etc. There's no alternative provider and the one we have resists (apparently) allowing any competition to move in - such as plasma gasification which would turn our trash problem into power and fuel.
You can't have competition
You can't have competition with a utility or things get really messed up. Imagine if you had AEL&P wiring installed in your house and decided to switch to a competitor. You'd have to rewire your house and find new power lines to get your juice from. So it has to be a monopoly, and is in fact called a "natural monopoly," much like your sewage or water utility.
The problem here is that AEL&P is a private company, not a publicly held utility like in most municipalities. If it were publicly held, then it wouldn't be for profit, and it could charge consumers the actual cost of the electricity minus subsidies.
@PP
Sorry you are wrong. There can be more than one utility . Look at the phone service. They share the phone lines and one does not need to get their house rewired when one changes phone companies. AEL&P has REFUSED to allow any other form of power too come into Juneau
billb
Water, sewer, and electric utilities are natural monopolies. Telephones often are as well, though cell phones have really changed things, and I don't believe telephone and internet service providers receive subsidies like other utilities do.
It would behoove you to do some research before calling me wrong. It is very rare to see more than one company handle an electric utility in the same area, and when it does occur, there is usually funky legislation making the infrastructure itself public property or requiring that the owner allow other companies to use it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly
Transmission Lines
From what I read in FERC, the utility is not allowed to restrict the access to the transmission lines by another provider. Rewiring of a house shouldn't be an issue.
Transmission lines
PP I do not know how long you have lived in Juneau, but I remember when GCI wanted to have phone sevice here. They had to petion the RCA and ask ACS for permission to use their lines Te matter was decided by the RCA and an agreent between the two companies was reached
AEL&P wiring in a house?
The wiring in your house is NEVER AEL&P wiring, it is installed by the contractor who built the house and belongs directly to the homeowner. The only thing that AEL&P owns is the transmission line that comes to your meter base, not even one linear inch beyond. Any competitor would only have to provide a transmission line to your home and probably not even that as the RCA would make them part of "The Grid". They could then only charge the customers to whom they leased meters, and never more than the cumulative amount that they were able to provide to the Grid in the first place. YES.... there could be competition. If AEL&P sold more power because they were able to use more because of the competing source being included on the grid, AEL&P would have to pay them for the extra power. If a private individual generates their own power, and has more than they can use, they can pump it back into the grid and AEL&P HAS TO PAY THEM FOR IT.
Transmission and distribution are different
Lifelong has it pretty much correct in the first two sentences, I'd differ on terminology somewhat in regard to transmission, but she/he's essentially nailed that concept. The rest is unclear, but here's what I have come to understand having worked in the energy sector for decades. I will attempt to clarify some points which I do understand and might be helpful for others to better grasp this issue.
It is no wonder folks are confused regarding electricity - it is a bit more complex than one might expect. Transmission lines would be classified as higher voltage, such as the one moving energy between Snettisham and Juneau. Transmission lines permit the movement of energy from the generator (Snettisham) to the distribution center (Juneau). Elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada, transmission often involves shared use of these assets and may be owned by the state, as I believe the lines between Snettisham and Juneau are (or were).
Distribution is between the utility and the home. These facilities are owned in this case by AEL&P and are subject to Regulatory Commission of Alaska jurisdiction "RCA".
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission "FERC" generally isn't involved in intrastate (in-state) energy transmission, this kind of transmission is up to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
FERC is involved in most hydroelectric licensing, dams and other hydrokinetic projects, but may become involved in interstate (other state) transmission issues.
RCA would be involved if another generating company was to enter the Juneau market and seek access to share existing transmission facilities and again if they were to seek access to AEL&P owned facilities. Success on access to transmission would likely occur, but access to AEL&P distribution facilities is anyone's guess.
Distribution competition might be someday granted, but it is much more complex than sharing (leasing) telephone lines to other carriers. Utilities often need to reconfigure their distribution lines (something most customers never see). So there are complexities which impede this type of shared distribution - and this is where I'm moving beyond my understanding, so I'll shut up on this note.
I hope this helps and welcome correction from those who may have a better understanding than I.
I can't wait
to get a generator and stop paying for electricity....soon, soon!
Transmission Lines
Regardless of definitions, I still feel like we're getting jerked around.
To:TheEyeOpener
AEL&P made monthly reports to FERC regarding the construction of Lake Dorothy, I have researched the public files on the FERC site investigating blast dates, what money was spent on what, etc. It was during this process I read that the transmission lines are not supposed to be limited to AEL&P's use. Even though the utility is privately held, it is still regarded as a public business.
I want say again, please attend the meetings if you can - I believe these issues will be discussed there. People can make up their own minds as to whether the rate increase is fair or not. I believe they are entitled to something, but how much?
Harbor power rates
If AEL&P has to commit to a payback, will Docks and Harbors do the same for the unmetered boats they have been selling power to all winter?
Without a doubt, transmission lines should be accessible to all
JuneauVince, I don't think we disagree, number one, federal dollars built that line, number two, I think it is owned by the state via AIDEA, number three, transmission lines are considered sacrosanct at FERC - that agency wants transmission access to move electrons regardless of who owns them.
That issue will be settled when some entity seeks access and I have no doubt that FERC will be watching when it arises. At this point, FERC may not hold jurisdiction, but I could be wrong on this because of the previous federal ownership. It might be that previous federal investment which built Snettisham may trigger automatic jurisdiction - in which case I'm sure any investors seeking to use the line will be very happy.
I can understand why it is difficult to follow all of this. No wonder it takes specialized attorney's to keep these matters all copacetic.
Having a better understanding, I guess informs a person how much and perhaps why they are being jerked around.
EO
EyeOpener; no I do not believe we disagree at all, nor am I seeking one. I welcome whatever useful information I can gain access to as a means to clarify the ratepayer's standing, what our rights are. I see argumentative commentary in the opinion section often and I see no constructive benefit from it - which is what prompted me to start a group - fortunately someone beat me to it, because I didn't have a clue where to begin.
I just got notice of some changes RAPA made in their recommendations to the rate increase, if you're interested write me at 333vah777@gmail.com and I'll send you the link. That goes for anyone reading this as well, I tried posting it and it didn't go through for some reason but I'll try again and see what happens. I'm also working at getting a recording of the hearing posted on our website, if for some reason that doesn't work I can make that available to those who ask for it via the same gmail site.
Correction
What I meant to say in the last post was that I was not seeking to disagree.
<http://rca.alaska.gov/RCAWeb/ViewFile.aspx?id=44256c92-a76a-4e8
In the subject field is the link I just got.
The link wouldn't work for me
The link wouldn't work for me Vince. I found it and tried to post it, but had the problem you may have encountered. For some reason this board won't display the link.
Kara, there's no free lunch.
Kara, there's no free lunch. How much do you expect to save by powering up a generator now that fuel costs have gone through the roof?
Has anybody looked at installing a windmill designed for home use?