Utility holds off on creating special wildfire liability in Wyoming

Rocky Mountain Power on Thursday withdrew its application to create a special-use account that would have drawn on Wyoming ratepayers to help underwrite wildfire insurance premiums and litigation costs.

Those expenses have leapt dramatically in response to wildfires whose legal liabilities have so far cost parent company PacifiCorp more than a billion dollars — and may still cost more.

Company representatives say they will wait on the outcomes of ongoing wildfire litigation before returning to the commission with a proposal. The move postpones a price hike for now, but wildfire implications will likely directly hit Wyoming ratepayer pocketbooks in time.

PacifiCorp has paid $1.02 billion in settlements related to wildfires in Oregon and California and has reached agreements to pay another $199 million, according to a financial filing in August from Berkshire Hathaway, which controls PacifiCorp.

The utility estimated as much as $2.66 billion in cumulative wildfire-related losses, including a $178 million settlement reached with 403 plaintiffs of the James Fire earlier this year; a $150 million settlement with 378 plaintiffs in the 2020 Slater fire in California; $549 million in combined settlements paid in association Archie Creek Complex Fire for settlements with 10 commercial timber operations and 463 individual plaintiffs. The company still faces up to $46 billion in class-action claims and other legal challenges, the Aug 5 filing reports.

The prospect of high bills from wild-fires come after the utility's 144,000 Wyoming customers have already seen monthly electric bills climb. Average ratepayers saw prices increase by 5.5% in January and then by another 9.3%, which were effectively the company's recoup of increased costs related to price jumps for coal and natural gas in 2022 and 2023.