It will be nearly a month before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska decides whether to approve Alaska Electric Light & Power’s request for an increase in the rates it charges customers for electricity.
The RCA was expected to make a determination Wednesday. However, the commission requested the parties involved in the case mutually agree to a 30-day extension, according to an order issued by RCA Wednesday. AEL&P, the Juneau People’s Power Project and the Attorney General’s office all agreed to the request, the order states.
The decision is now expected Aug. 26.
RCA previously granted AEL&P an interim increase of 18.5 percent to their customers’ overall costs (the increase was actually for 20 percent of the cost of electricity, but since the customer charge remained unchanged, the effective increase was 18.5 percent). If approved, that increase would go from 18.5 percent to about 22 percent.
AEL&P spokesman Scott Willis said the utility will continue billing at the interim rate while RCA mulls its decision.
Comments (5)
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So, a few questions:
1. If this is not approved will that cause the rates to go back to the rate it was before our rates elevated to 18.5% or does that mean our electricitity rates will remain at 18.5% and not bounce (yet again) to 22%?
2. If this is not approved will we receive a refund from AEL&P? Will this refund pay interest?
3. If this is not approved, will we be reduced by the 18.5% or will we remain at the 18.5% and simply not be increased to the 22%?
4. Who appoints the member of the RCA?
5. What is the reason for the extension? You would think this is a hot topic which should be hammered out rather than putting this off for another month. How long has this been going on already? Exactly how many months have we already been paying at the higher rate?
I'll leave my opinions of AEL&P out of this comment and simply post questions. If I I posted my love for the company, all there would be left to read is, "(censor)," as I have nothing nice to say.
@WREN
In answer to your questions 1 If the increase is not approved the 18.5% , that is being held in an in an account,will be paid back to us the consumers. 2.The RCA will probably approve some type of rate increase , but not the 24% that AEL&P is asking. 3 The rate that we are paid back will be the difference of the rate increase - the approved intrim 18.5%
Thank you billb...
*thanks for answering my questions!*
why?
I, too, question the reason for the extension. Seems arbitrary, inneffectual and capricious.
I read the all the pertinent posts on the RCA website, notification of and approval from all parties (AEL&P, JPPP, AK AG), but no justification is given or indicated for the delay in reaching a decision.
What is the justification / reason the RCA has delayed making a determination of this issue?
An interesting idea for AELP
The perennial back and forth on rates and public outcry may in part be due to the divergence of interests between the rate paying public and the private owners of the utility.
This shows no sign of ever letting up.
Maybe the ideal solution would be for AELP to consider selling shares to locals in a private offering that would allow any individual or organization in Juneau to buy into the company.
This would extend ownership beyond the Corbus family and Stanford to the larger rate paying public. Perhaps this could even work into the eventual retirement of the leader and provide a way for the family to cash out. Running the utility (slides, RCA, People's Power) can't be much of a way to spend retirement.
What if the people and organizations (city, Sealaska, Goldbelt, maybe even the mines)-- thousands of locals actually owned and voted the shares.
Granted, the financials may or may not warrant investment, but a well managed monopoly that already owns substantial property should be able to produce ("should" being the operative word) a decent return over the long term. They do own half the mine downtown (so I guess they are literally sitting on a gold mine--at record prices!)
You would still have the hue and cry by some over rates, but they should (or could) put their money where their mouth is and simply buy in and come to the annual meeting--maybe even try and get elected to the board of directors.
The rates, dividends, environmental policies, slide mitigation, labor contracts, etc. could all be something a wider ownership could have a part in determining.
I understand this was tried in the 1970's (1976?) without much interest, but speaking of interest, people are not getting anything on their CD's, muni-bonds, and bank accounts, and many locals might like to get some of their utility money back in the form of a dividend.
There are now even more websites allowing for the liquidity of privately held shares, so people could buy and sell shares to some extent. The private placement memos are often as detailed as any publicly traded stock prospectus and we'd get to see the full financial story for AELP and the terms of ownership.
It would be a transformative event--placing our utility in the light and up for sale for the users. It would have to entail a sale of a large the majority of shares to meaningful however. And they'd want to avoid any funny business on retaining all or majority voting rights by creating different classes of stock.
And, of course, if no one subscribes or buys in, then the current owners can simply say: "we offered it up to the community and they declined," so everyone has to live with the current ownership and status quo with the regular thrust and parry over rates..