Regulators set Golovin's power cost credit at 45.15 cents per kilowatt-hour

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska set the City of Golovin's Power Cost Equalization credit at 45.15 cents per kilowatt-hour on Thursday. The new rate applies to bills issued on or after Friday, Nov. 13.

Power Cost Equalization is a state credit that lowers power bills in rural Alaska. Under state law, the program pays an eligible rural utility to reduce what it charges customers for a capped amount of electricity each month.

The same order found that Golovin's generators fell short of a state efficiency standard. The city produced 11.25 kilowatt-hours of power per gallon of fuel during the reporting period, below the commission's minimum of 11.5. In its previous report, the city produced 12.94 kilowatt-hours per gallon, meeting that period's standard of 12.5.

Because Golovin missed the standard, commission staff used 84,954 imputed gallons of fuel in the calculation rather than the 86,857 gallons the city actually burned. That lowered the fuel cost used to set the credit from about 51.87 cents to 50.74 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Commission staff said they will watch the city's efficiency closely and contact the city with its next filing if the decline continues.

The commission issued the order after a staff review of the city's update. It reminds Golovin that the city must keep records of generation, fuel use and sales and report those figures to the Alaska Energy Authority each month. The city must also pay a $39 fee for the staff's analysis.

The credit does not cover every kilowatt-hour a rural utility sells. At a House Resources Committee hearing on April 24, Alaska Center for Energy and Power chief scientist Gwen Holdmann said the program "only covers about a third of the kilowatt hours that are sold in rural Alaska." The other two-thirds are paid at the full cost of power in those communities, she said.

Golovin has 15 days from the date of the order to ask the commission to reconsider if it believes the calculations are wrong.