Rocky Mountain Power’s 18% rate hike is not low enough says Utah house speaker

facing a lot of public backlash Rocky Mountain Power has lowered their proposed rate hike for next year new specialist Lindsay erens has more on how much it's coming down and whether the proposed height could come down even more yeah Rocky Mountain Power was proposing a 30% rate hike now they've taken that down to 18% that would cost the average Utah family about 14 additional dollars a month but one of Utah's top lawmakers says that's not low enough we understand that a rate increase is never welcome for anybody your power bill may be going up as soon as this February and it's difficult when a rate increase from the utility company comes after so many inflationary driven increases but there is somewhat of a silver lining Rocky Mountain Power initially proposing a 30% hike in rates but after months of push back is now lowering it to an 18% hike for residential users so what once would have cost you an extra $24 a month will now be about 14 to mitigate the impact on customers you know we're always looking at um at ways to do that still Rocky Mountain Power spokesperson David eslon says the hike is needed to cover Rising energy costs the Commodities that we use natural gas coal the the power purchased from other utilities on the open market uh those have all increased in price but one of Utah's top Republicans isn't satisfied even with the lower hike we still think it needs to come lower house speaker Mike Schultz says State leaders will continue to push for that no hike is a good hike but we understand that it probably has to go up but we're working as as hard as we can to keep it as low as possible Schultz said they've asked the company to give them a proposal of what it could look like to break away from States like Washington Oregon and California who also get their energy from Rocky Mountain Po's parent company Pacific Corp and who he believes are driving up costs the policies that we've put in place uh so far have kept Utah the number one lowest state in the nation for energy costs and the speaker was adamant about making sure that happens we will do whatever it takes to keep rates low for the citizens of Utah now I asked the Rocky Mountain spokesperson if he thinks that 18% rate hike will stick he said it will now be up to the Public Utilities Commission who is tasked with deciding these rate hikes reporting in Salt Lake City for KSL 5 news I'm Lindsay SS