Mark Cox with Rocky Mountain Power introduced the following from Rocky Mountain Power: Lucky Morris, Douglas Marks, Bob Lively, Maria Omara and Jed Johnson. Lucky Morris and Douglas Marks provided a PowerPoint presentation to the City Council. A copy of the presentation is available by request through Ivins City Hall. They indicated the partnership between Ivins City and Rocky Mountain Power dates back to the early 1980's. Rocky Mountain Power serves 85% of Utah. They stated they are competitive in their prices and are the lowest cost provider in the State of Utah. They have revised their business plan to address customers concerns regarding rate increases that would have doubled over the next ten (10) years. They stated that it's their intent to delay future increases. Rocky Mountain Power works to deliver outstanding customer service and is ranked 5th in a nation wide survey for customer satisfaction. They have provided community support including the Blue Sky grant for Ivins City Hall, Tuacahn, the Veterans Nursing Home monument project paid municipal energy use taxes, sales taxes and property taxes, partnered in undergrounding facilities for road projects and invested to build a new transmission line in 2013-2014 to serve Ivins City and the surrounding areas. They own and control more than 80% of their generating capacity. Rocky Mountain Power has qualified employees based in Washington County to meet service needs and dedicated and resourceful crews prepared to respond to any emergency. Rocky Mountain Power has worked hard to develop renewable energy in their service area and is the second largest utility owner in wind power in the United States. They are dedicated to help renewable energy work according to the wants and needs of their customers. They have looked into solar farms and found the best solar production for solar farms are at higher altitudes because the heat can be managed. Rocky Mountain Power referred to a theoretical rooftop solar study in the presentation and indicated they had real data to correlate to the study. Rocky Mountain Power doesn't think municipal power is in the best interest of Ivins residents and indicated it would be in everyone's best interests to recommit to having a mutually beneficial partnership. Mayor Hart inquired if Rocky Mountain Power has looked into compressed solar and Rocky Mountain Power indicated they have not gotten into that technology.
Council Member Densley referred to the majority of Rocky Mountain Power's energy coming from coal and the current governmental administration that has expressed a negative future for coal fire plants due to pollution. He inquired how Rocky Mountain Power is going to address that. Lucky Morris stated federal regulations are a significant concern but Rocky Mountain Power has seen that coming for many years and has already invested in pollution control equipment for the coal fire plants. Where it makes economic sense, they will continue to make those investments. He indicated Rocky Mountain Power has diversified its portfolio significantly so they can manage their way through the regulations. Council Member Densley referred to Warren Buffet and inquired if he is one of the controlling interests of Rocky Mountain Power and if so, is he guaranteed a return no matter what happens and does that affect their projection of costs? Lucky Morris stated Warren Buffet is the majority owner of MidAmerican Energy which is Rocky Mountain's parent company. He has invested significantly but is not guaranteed a return. Rocky Mountain Power works with the Public Service Commission in the State of Utah and they are the ones that determine what is authorized. Rocky Mountain Power has not achieved its authorized rate of return for many years. Mayor Hart indicated the power business is a very complicated business and is difficult to analyze what the relative values are of a system Ivins might have as a municipality rather than continuing on with Rocky Mountain Power. The Council may decide that the only way to know would be to conduct a study that has been discussed in the past. That study would analyze the cost of acquiring Rocky Mountain Power's infrastructure in Ivins and what the costs would be to the City to operate that system. The City is not looking at Rocky Mountain Power as a poor service provider. The City is looking at another alternative that may be a benefit to Ivins residents. He understood Rocky Mountain Power has to conduct the study with Ivins paying for it and to him that seems on the surface, an inadequate way to receive a third party analysis. Lucky Morris updated Rocky Mountain's position and stated that as Rocky Mountain Power has discussed this internally, they feel they are in an excellent position to provide a great service to Ivins City. Rocky Mountain Power has made a decision that they are not going to sell their assets in Ivins City and Ivins City would need to conduct their own study. Mayor Hart referred to other users in areas outside of Ivins that are served by Rocky Mountain Power. Lucky Morris indicated if Ivins were to municipalize, Rocky Mountain Power would still need to have some way to serve those customers. Council Member Roberts stated he appreciated Rocky Mountain Power being at the meeting and inquired if they are looking into nuclear power for the future. Lucky Morris indicated the risks are so great with nuclear power that they are not looking into that. Mayor Hart referred to renewable energy and stated the City is limited in its ability to implement programs or bring on line renewable generation because the City is not a municipal power entity and ultimately the wholesale source goes to Rocky Mountain Power. There should be a way for Ivins to derive a benefit from renewable energy. Lucky Morris indicated there may be some options for that. Mayor Hart stated the City is very appreciative of Rocky Mountain Power supporting the City with the solar panel project and their points they have made about other services and benefits are not falling on deaf ears. Council Member McDonald indicated Rocky Mountain Power's service has never been in question. The struggle is the cost to the residents and how those costs can be reduced or kept from drastically increasing. Lucky Morris stated Rocky Mountain Power has posted their prices and projected prices so customers know that Rocky Mountain Power is committed to keeping their price increases very moderate and predictable. Mark Cox indicated he appreciated the Mayor and City Council's time. He provided an Energy Insights newsletter to the Mayor and City Council as well as his contact information. A copy of the newsletter is available by request through Ivins City Hall. If the Mayor or City Council Members have questions, they can contact Mr. Cox.