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Show Utility Rates to continue climb states Topham at C of C Meet "Utility rates have increased dramatically in the last five years, and they will continue to increase dramatically," stated Verl R. Topham, executive secretary and attorney for Utah Power and Light Company. Topham, who addressed the Cedar City Chamber of Commerce last Thursday at the June membership meeting held at the Town and Country Restaurant, emphasized em-phasized that rate increases are paralleled with higher costs to produce and market electricity. Before public utilities can raise their rates, studies and hearings are held, sometimes lasting for several months. Hundreds of people are involved in the complex process before the utility is granted the increase. Topham noted that utilities are one of the few places where citizen views on prices can be heard. Behind the rate increases are higher costs for construction, coal, borrowing money, and environmental control equipment. Costs for constructing new power plants have risen sharply'. Several years ago, it cost $150 for each new kilowatt of generating capacity. Now, the expense per kilowatt is up to $600 and it is expected to rise to around $1,000 per kilowatt in the future, according to Topham. Interest rates on borrowed money have inflated, too., Long term bonds issued by UP&L that used to pay 23a percent interest are now expiring after 30 years, and must be replaced by bonds with 914 percent interest. Topham also stated that a lot of money is invested in environmental control equipment. He gave an example of a UP&L plant in Wyoming which had environmental en-vironmental equipment installed costing 60 million dollars, which is more than the plant itself cost. In addition, these controls use 5 percent of the energy produced by the plant. Red tape is another problem facing public utilities. "There are so many permits that are needed to do anything," Topham pointed out. He added that nothing works so well to delay or stop growth than many regulations. One example of such delays is an environmental en-vironmental impact statement on some proposed power lines running parallel to existing lines. So far, these studies by the U.S. Interior Department have extended over three years. When asked how much money this delay has cost UP&L, Topham replied that over one-half million dollars . has been tied up already. Demand for power continues to increase, in-crease, however. Topham indicated that in an area serviced by UP&L, new irrigation pumps alone will require 40,000 kilowatts. When asked about solar power possibilities, he said that a house equipped with solar power would increase in value by $20,000, putting it out of reach for the general public at this time. Prices for power in the Western U.S. have generally been lower than in other parts of the country, however, noted Topham. He expressed hope that this would continue to be so. i |