By McKenzie Romero | Editor
The process to set utility rates can be complex and time consuming, but the recent dispute between Rocky Mountain Power and the Utah Public Service Commission was unusually difficult.
After the utility company proposed an 18.1% rate increase for customers and state regulators knocked it down to 4.7%, the dispute made its way to the Utah Supreme Court. Now, the two sides have reached a deal, but some advocates question whether the process was transparent.
In today’s Dispatch we lay out reaction to the settlement over Rocky Mountain Power’s rate increase, a deal between Utah and the federal government to fund recovery after the Cottonwood Fire, and what some Utah leaders say about preserving states’ rights.
“It’s not an ideal process, but it was a fairly unique situation with the Supreme Court appeal. … And so I certainly hope that something like this doesn’t happen again in the future. It’s not a healthy process.” — Logan Mitchell, climate scientist and energy analyst at Utah Clean Energy, on Rocky Mountain Power’s rate dispute with the Utah Public Service Commission.
Rocky Mountain Power’s Gadsby Plant in the Fairpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Alixel Cabrera
Under the settlement agreement, general electricity rates will be 4.2% higher for Rocky Mountain customers, on top of the 4.7% hike the Public Service Commission approved last year — though that won’t translate into higher bills for ratepayers this year because of other fee adjustments.
Some advocates weren’t opposed to the agreement, saying there are good aspects of it and that it avoided a lengthy court fight. However, they remained skeptical about what was a more obscure approach to ratemaking.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, center, tours wildfire and flood stricken areas in Beaver County on Aug. 6, 2026. (Courtesy of the Utah governor’s office)
By Katie McKellar
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz struck an $18.4 million deal to help Beaver and Piute counties recover from wildfire and flooding damage.
Cox and Schultz signed the agreement ahead of touring areas impacted by the over 97,000-acre Cottonwood Fire in Beaver County (including where flash flooding came in the wake of the fire, worsened by its burn scar) and the over 96,000-acre Widemouth 2 Fire near Kanosh in Millard County.
Kristen Welker, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, interviews Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox during the summer meeting of the National Governors Association in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Kevin Hardy/Stateline)
STATELINE
By Kevin Hardy
State leaders of both parties say the federal government — including the president — wields too much power, and they want to see more authority returned to the states. The question was part of discussions at the National Governors Association summer meeting.
Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said it’s easy for state leaders to champion states’ rights when the opposing political party controls the levers of federal power. But a truer test of federalism likely lies in how states approach it when their own party controls Washington.
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