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Rocky Mountain Power outlines county priorities, commissioners ask to add renewables language and cooperation with local utilities
Summary
Kathy Hoffman of Rocky Mountain Power presented county priorities including support for mega-site power (about 10 MW), low-cost service, outage restoration improvements and renewable initiatives; commissioners asked for added language on renewables and cooperative arrangements and continued action two weeks for staff to provide revised language.
Kathy Hoffman, Regional Business Manager for Rocky Mountain Power, presented the utility’s Community Performance Plan priorities to the Board of Utah County Commissioners and described several initiatives the company is proposing to continue or expand in partnership with the county.
Hoffman said Rocky Mountain Power is proposing three standing priorities for its work with Utah County: coordinating with economic-development staff to support mega-site proposals and help deliver about 10 megawatts of power to those locations; continuing to offer low-cost service rates to county residents; and using technology to speed power restoration and provide clearer outage notifications for customers via its mobile app and website.
"We have really included a lot of renewable power into our overall generation portfolio," Hoffman said, noting a subscriber solar project for customers who prefer not to place panels on their roofs and describing the company’s growth in wind generation. Hoffman said the company is investing roughly $1,500,000,000 to expand its wind portfolio and described a Wyoming wind farm where turbine blades are being lengthened to increase efficiency.
Commissioners discussed adding language to the county’s performance plan to emphasize ‘‘continued development and utilization of renewables where it makes sense’’ and suggested the plan also explicitly reference cooperative work with municipal utilities and special service districts to provide backup and wholesale arrangements. Hoffman agreed to add the suggested language and said she would circulate a revised draft to the three commissioners for review.
Because the commission does not meet the following week, a commissioner moved to continue action on agenda item 2 for two weeks to allow the utility to submit the revised language; the motion passed by voice vote (3-0). Hoffman provided county staff with county contact instructions and directed staff to follow up via email. The utility did not provide firm timelines for project implementation or funding breakdowns for the wind investments on the record.
The presentation clarified customer-facing outage tools (rockymountainpower.net/outages) and described the subscriber solar option and planned wind investments; commissioners asked for concise, actionable language to be returned before the next meeting.
