Power customers in 16 Utah communities face fee hike for renewable energy program

SALT LAKE CITY — Power customers in Salt Lake City, Park City, Moab, Ogden and 12 other communities around the state face a $4 hike in their bills starting Jan. 1 as part of an initiative to promote development of renewable energy.

After years of discussion and debate, letters formally notifying some 250,000 Rocky Mountain Power customers in the 16 communities that the initiative is finally moving forward hit mailboxes this week. Customers will be automatically enrolled in the Community Clean Energy Program on Jan. 1, with residential users seeing a $ 4-a-month bump in their bills unless they opt out. Commercial users will face a fee based on their power use.

The Rocky Mountain Power letters are "the statutorily required notices and ... we view that as sort of the bare minimum," said Glade Sowards, senior energy and climate program manager for Salt Lake City. "Each individual community is doing their own newsletters, social media posts, other efforts to get out out the word."

The initiative aims to bolster the use of wind, solar, and other renewable energy resources, using revenue from the new fee to acquire clean energy or develop new clean-energy generating capacity. Its creation dates to the passage of HB411 in 2019. But years of talks followed involving Rocky Mountain Power, leaders from the 16 communities and officials from the Utah Public Service Commission, the regulatory body, to fine-tune program details.

The program "will build new clean energy resources on the company's grid to reduce fossil fuel dependence, improve air quality and limit the greenhouse gas pollution that fuels climate change," reads the Rocky Mountain Power letter sent this week to customers in the 16 communities.

'Going behind our backs'

Rocky Mountain Power will send out a second notice in December via email to paperless customers and through the U.S. Postal Service to customers billed through the mail. Both will explain how to opt out of the program — via users' online Rocky Mountain Power accounts, through a form included in the mailing or by phone.

Whatever the case, the letter, when he received it, took Dee Warner of the Kamas area in Summit County by surprise. He reached out to KSL to air his concerns and skepticism.

"They're cheating. They're going behind our backs," he charged. The process of creating the program, even if unnoticed by many, has drawn public scrutiny.

Warner responded to the Rocky Mountain Power letter, opting out of the program and the $4 monthly fee. He also voiced his support for fossil fuels, citing the use of scrubbers to reduce pollution emissions at coal-fueled power plants.

"It's a big lie about coal plants doing that because they have scrubbers on them," he said.

The participating communities in the program are Salt Lake City; Ogden; Park City; Moab; Emigration Canyon; Holladay; Midvale; Millcreek; Alta; Springdale; Castle Valley, Grand County; and Francis and Oakley in Summit County. Salt Lake, Grand and Summit counties also opted in, with businesses and households in the unincorporated areas of the counties impacted.

Rocky Mountain Power customers have until Dec. 31 to opt out of the program without being assessed the new fee. The fee goes into effect on Jan. 1, but customers may still opt out until May 1 without being assessed a termination fee. Residential customers opting out on May 2 or thereafter will be charged a one-time termination fee of $30.

"The reason for that isn't punitive," Sowards said. Rather, those involved want a clear gauge of interest in the program to help them pinpoint which renewable energy initiatives will be financially feasible under its parameters.

Contributing: Adam Small

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