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Show UP&L asks for revenue Utah Power & Light Co. last week asked the Utah Public Service Comis-sion Comis-sion for an additional $76.6 million in annual revenue to recover the cost of new customer facilities and to offset inflation and taxes. The utility's application also asked for $65.7 million. The company asked that the interim amount would be subject sub-ject to refund pending completion of hearings and a final order by the commission. The totai request, if granted in full, would mean an average increase in rates of 12.1 percent over present rates. The utility said a large portion of the requested amount is related to new facilities principally the new Hunter Plant hired unit that go into the company's com-pany's rate base. The unit was authorized by the PSC in 1978 and went into commercial operation last Wednesday. UP&L president Harry Blundell said despite the recent economic downturn, Utahns' demand for electrical energy still grows. He said that all classes of service registered an increase in de- mand last year and current company projections indicate that future electrical elec-trical demand will grow at a more rapid rate. He said even though the company is serving more customers and increasing in-creasing production, it has been operating under an austerity program that included a hiring freeze, an early ear-ly employee retirement program and cuts in or deferral of construction and maintenance projects. The company's interim request represents an increase of approximately approx-imately $4.50 per month for the average residental customer using 521 kilowatt-hours per month without electric elec-tric water or space heating. If the full amount is also granted, it will mean an additional increase of 75 cents per month for the same customer. The company asked for an increase in return on equity to 15.8 percent from the presently authorized return of 15.5 and return on investment of 12.46 percent per-cent up from the presently authorized 12.19 percent. UP&L serves some 415,000 Utah electricity users. |
