Two regulators object as RCA lets Fairbanks, Juneau power cost cuts stand

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska on Oct. 8 let lower power cost charges stand for Golden Valley Electric Association in the Interior and Alaska Electric Light and Power in Juneau. Two commissioners dissented, arguing the charges should have been folded into the rate cases both utilities have pending.

Both cuts were already on bills. Each took effect when the utility filed it, subject to later review. The commission's order approved them without suspending them, the step that opens an investigation.

Commissioners Steve DeVries and Mark Johnston filed identical dissents. Approving the changes without suspension "while a general rate case is pending works at cross purposes" with a regulatory requirement, they wrote.

The commission went the other way earlier this year. It suspended Golden Valley's previous two fuel adjustments into the co-op's rate case in April and July, over Commissioner Julie Vogler's dissent.

Golden Valley's charge, which covers fuel and purchased power, fell from 20.652 cents to 18.049 cents per kilowatt-hour on Sept. 1. That cut a sample 581-kilowatt-hour bill by $15.12, or 6.35%, and the new rate holds through November, Alaska News reported last month. The charge makes up about half of a typical bill for the co-op's roughly 48,600 customers.

In Juneau, AEL&P's adjustment went from a small surcharge to a credit of about 0.63 cents per kilowatt-hour, cutting a sample 850-kilowatt-hour bill by $5.99, or 5.52%. The adjustment covers costs or credits not already in base rates and has most often been a credit, according to AEL&P.

The rate cases the dissenters pointed to could raise bills in both places. Golden Valley asked for a 7.4% interim increase to its utility and demand charges, according to the commission's public notice. AEL&P's request would raise a typical Juneau bill about 18% to 20%, Alaska News reported in June.