What factors are influencing current rate designs?

The energy market is always changing—the current change is driven primarily by the efforts to transition to renewable energy. Factors to consider include:

• Clean energy is not available at certain hours throughout the year.
• It is a priority in our region to switch to electricity rather than using carbon-based fuels for heating and transportation.
• Charging more for using more energy is a barrier to achieving electrification goals.
• Price signals and covering high fixed costs are part of a renewable energy future.

Factors that are unique to OPALCO are low-cost power from the Bonneville Power Administration, costly submarine cables, limited year-round solar resources yet high rooftop solar adoption, large hydro resources mean there is not much value in energy load shifting within any given day, and large share of seasonal homeowners who are gone when OPALCO recovers most of the revenues in winter months.