Alaska Power Company asks to waive charges for customers cut off by disasters

Alaska Power Company has asked state regulators for permission to stop charging customers to reconnect after a natural disaster. The utility wants to waive reconnection, customer and demand charges for anyone whose service is cut off by one, and has asked that the change take effect Nov. 5.

The company serves rural communities where power already costs more than almost anywhere else in the state. Alaska Power Company is the regulated electric arm of Alaska Power & Telephone, the Ketchikan-based utility that serves more than 40 rural Alaska communities. Federal energy data put its average price at 32.8 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2023, against 17.6 cents for Chugach Electric customers in Anchorage and 11.6 cents in Juneau. It had 8,368 electric customers that year.

The company could require documentation showing a customer qualifies for the waiver. The filing would amend its tariff, the schedule of rates and service terms every utility files with the state.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska says its notice does not contain every requested revision, and that it may approve something different from what the company proposed. Comments are due by 5 pm Oct. 7, referencing TA931-2.