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Rocky Mountain Power seeks $8.8 million refund to Utah customers under Schedule 98; Division backs interim approval pending audit
Summary
Michael Hammer, the Utah Public Service Commission’s designated presiding officer, opened a virtual hearing in docket 25-035-13 on Rocky Mountain Power’s application to revise Tariff Schedule 98, the utility’s renewable energy credit balancing account.
Michael Hammer, the Utah Public Service Commission’s designated presiding officer, opened a virtual hearing in docket 25-035-13 on Rocky Mountain Power’s application to revise Tariff Schedule 98, the utility’s renewable energy credit (REC) balancing account.
Aaron Rose, an assistant revenue requirement manager for Pacific Corp, summarized the company’s filing: “On 03/13/2025, Rocky Mountain Power filed its annual renewable energy credit balancing account or RBA seeking to refund a deferral balance to Utah customers through Schedule 98 of approximately 8,800,000 over a 1 year period beginning 06/01/2025.” Rose said the RBA deferral is calculated “as the difference between actual REC revenue realized by the company and the amount in rates during the deferral period or calendar year 2024,” and that the filing includes a net carrying charge for the deferral and interim period “of approximately 583,000.”
Annette Orton, a utility analyst with the Utah Division of Public Utilities (DPU), described the division’s review and recommendation. “This application requests an 8,800,000 refund to Utah customers for the year beginning 06/01/2025 through May 31, 2026,” Orton said, adding that the requested refund is “a net increase of 5,500,000 over the current refund level of 3,300,000,” and that the change would produce an overall decrease in customer rates of “0.3%.” Orton testified that the division’s preliminary review found the company’s filing complied with the Utah Code and commission orders and recommended the commission approve the proposed change to Tariff Schedule 98 on an interim basis, “pending the division’s final audit of the REC revenues contained in this filing to be completed on or before 07/23/2025.”
No intervenors or Office of Consumer Services filings were presented in this phase of the proceeding. The company moved to admit all previously filed testimony and exhibits into the record; the presiding officer admitted them. The division moved to admit its comments submitted on April 29, 2025; the presiding officer admitted those as well.
The hearing record shows the company’s request for interim approval beginning June 1, 2025, but the transcript does not record a final Commission decision at this session. The DPU’s recommendation and the company’s testimony identifying the calculation method, the inclusion of a carrying charge, and the specific dates for the deferral and interim periods are the principal materials before the Commission at the time of adjournment.
Background and context: under Tariff Schedule 98, Rocky Mountain Power tracks the difference between REC revenues included in rates and actual REC revenues received from REC sales; those monthly differences are deferred and trued up annually in the company’s RBA filing. The transcript notes that this is the sixth year the company has included REC revenue from sales to Kennecott Utah Copper under a non-generation renewable energy credit supply agreement referenced in the company’s filing.
What happens next: the Division’s final audit is scheduled to be completed on or before July 23, 2025; that audit outcome will inform the Commission’s final disposition of the interim rates request. The hearing record does not show a Commission order issued during the virtual session.
