Officials of Logan City Light & Power have advised members of the Logan City Council that local residents and businesses may face power shortages and/or utility rate hikes in the hottest days of the summer of 2022.
LOGAN – City residents and businesses in Logan are facing the very real possibility of brown-outs or electricity rate hikes in the height of this summer’s heat.
That was the conclusion of a report entitled “Summer 2022 Power Shortage” delivered to the Logan City Council by officials of Logan City Light & Power (LCLP) on Feb. 1.
“That’s not very cheery news,” Mayor Holly Daines acknowledged.
“No,” council chair Jeanne Simmonds agreed, “not very cheery at all.”
According to Yupi Zhao, the LCLP resource manager, the city may experience a shortfall of 25 to 35 megawatts of electricity during the afternoon hours of the months of July to September, just when the local demand for power to run air conditioners is at its height.
LCLP is a municipal utility service. It operates hydro, natural gas and solar power generation facilities that produce more than 18 magawatts of electricity locally and traditionally contracts from regional utilities for additional power as needed.
The city’s power contract with those outside suppliers ends in March, but additional power at reasonable prices has been contracted for through late spring.
But the price of power for the period from July through September 2022 has escalated for a number of reasons, Zhao explained.
Energy production from coal-fired power plants throughout the West is being limited by lack of available fuel. Meanwhile, demand for power is increasing due to hotter temperatures and population growth. The availability of hydroelectric power is also deceasing as the regional drought lowers water levels in reservoirs and behind power-generating dams.
To illustrate that jump in power prices, Zhao said Logan normally contracts for additional power at an average price of around $55 per megawatt hour. The only power available for purchase during the upcoming months of July to September is priced at around $205 per megawatt hour.
LCLP director Mark Montgomery said, fortunately, this power shortage is expected to be a short-term problem. Logan has already contracted with a new supplier called Enchant Energy in New Mexico, which will use a combination of coal-fueled, carbon capture and energy storage technology. Enchant is scheduled to supply the city with 15 megawatts of power for $33 per hour for 15 years starting in October.
In the meantime, Montgomery said LCLP hopes to find a short-term power supplier at more reasonable prices to meet the city’s energy demands in July to September and will also hire a cost-of-service analysis.
That analysis will likely result in a rate hike recommendation that Montgomery said will be passed on to power customers under the provisions of LCLP’s Electrical Energy Surcharge.
The LCLP director predicted that rate hike might be between $4 and $10 per month for residential customers and thousands of dollars for business customers based on their size and energy consumption.