City electricity deal extension through 2044

Published by admin on Wed, 05/28/2025 - 7:00pm
By: 
Dylan Brown
Weiser leaders hope to keep saving city residents money on their power bills by bringing in electricity from the Columbia River Basin.
 The Weiser City Council unanimously supported renewing the city’s contract with the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal government utility that manages 31 hydroelectric dams and the Hanford nuclear plant in eastern Washington.
 The current deal does not expire until 2028, but Mayor Randy Hibberd said the city needed to act now to secure wholesale prices as part of a new agreement that would last until Sept. 30, 2044.
 “This just keeps our contract the same as it is,” Weiser Public Works Director Mike Campell said. “This is, in the foreseeable future, the best way to keep our power as cost effective as we can.”
 For more than a century, Weiser has operated its own power company, one of only a few dozen municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives in Idaho. The city’s Electric Department and its four linemen install, maintain and repair 25 miles of overhead lines and poles as well as five miles of underground line.
 Most electricity in Washington County comes from Idaho Power, but Weiser opted to make Bonneville – the biggest utility in the entire Pacific Northwest – its “provider of choice.” Power still gets delivered through Idaho Power’s substation southwest of town, but Weiser’s roughly 2,800 residential and commercial customers pay upwards of 15 percent less than the typical ratepayer. 
 Residents only pay the market rate when power demand surpasses the allotted amount – usually when air conditioning units kick into overdrive during especially hot days. Campbell said the city does its best to use rebates available during those times. 
 Currently, the city is conducting a study of the entire electric system and the rate structure, including the potential influx of solar power.
 “Right now, our power is inexpensive enough that the cost to go to solar in the city limits without it being government funded... the return on it is significantly longer than a lot of places,” Campbell said.
 

 

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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