Chugach rates; fire damage
Chugach Electric Association will temporarily bump rates to offset costs of using more natural gas because of the shutdown of a transmission line bringing hydro power from the Bradley Lake project north from the Kenai Peninsula. The Swan Lake wildfire burned 167,000 acres on the Kenai this summer, disrupting transportation and causing a shutdown of the transmission line. Bradley Lake supplies about 10 percent of Chugach’s needs. The estimate is for a 3 percent to 6 percent increase.

While Chugach and other “railbelt” utilities are cut off from Bradley Lake its cheap hydro power can now all go to Homer Electric Assoc., which can reduce its use of diesel. That might allow HEA to reduce rates. It could take several months to complete the fire damage assessment and rebuild the damaged transmission line, which is actually owned by HEA. A rebuild could provide an opportunity to upgrade the transmission line, expanding its capacity to ship hydro power north.

Chugach-MEA hearings paused
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska is taking a 90-day pause in its hearings on the proposed acquisition of Anchorage’s city-owned Municipal Light & Power by Chugach Electric Assoc., the Southcentral regional power cooperative that serves much of Anchorage. Issues in the deal have arisen in two weeks of hearings the RCA has had underway and negotiations are ongoing among the affected parties to resolve those, we’re told. Agreement could come soon but some commissioners of the RCA were concerned about a mid-November statutory deadline for concluding the proceeding. That led to the proposal for a 90-day extension, which was accepted.